


Operation: Matchmaking

by figurative_trash



Series: Operation: Matchmaking [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: College buddies - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Ford and Mabel Bond, Ford has a Crush, Matchmaking, Multi, Reader-Insert, Traveling Scientist Reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-07-16 17:59:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7278157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/figurative_trash/pseuds/figurative_trash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mabel tells Stanford about her (failed) summer romances and realizes how long it's probably been since her Grunkle has scored himself a girlfriend. Matchmaking ensues, and Ford bumps into an old friend of his. Literally.</p><p>(Added "Operation" to title for the lovely Hanzura!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Day Out

"--and then he kissed me! On the lips! It was like--whaat?!" Mabel exaggerated, going so far as to stop her spinning on Stanford's office chair and waving her arms to make her story just that much more dramatic. Ford nodded in interest, glancing at his niece from his desk, where he stood examining notes.

"Fascinating." He commented, slightly amused and impressed. What could he say? He was feeling proud that a young relative of his had not only encountered an anomaly and practically saved their life, but she had also managed to share a relationship with said anomaly. Incredible.

"I know, right? It was like fireworks had exploded in the background, like, bam! Bam! Boom!" The fourteen year-old exclaimed, starting to spin around again and pumping her hands into the air to imitate fireworks going off above her.

It was the second summer after the events of Weirdmaggedon, and both pairs of the Pines Twins decided that they would meet up again in Gravity Falls and stay with Soos, Melanie, and Abuelita since they were invited to. Soos hadn't told his family about the lab behind the vending machine, deeming it Pines Property.

Soos and his family had taken up the rest of the Mystery Shack, but left most of the home as it was as a reminder of the Pines. The lab and gift shop were the only rooms that stayed exactly the same, however. Luckily, McGucket let them stay in his mansion, as he had more space than he knew what to do with. They spent most of their time in the Mystery Shack, though.

Mabel had been incredibly bored, as Dipper had been busy out doing guy stuff with Soos and Wendy had gone out with her friends to do some whack teenager things. She had been doing some DJ-ing with Waddles for a while, but decided the pig had earned himself a well-deserved nap. Candy and Grenda couldn't come over, as they were busy with family activities.

Melanie and Abuelita were out shopping on Melody's day off. She had even considered hanging out with Grunkle Stan, but seeing as he had taken up the couch and fallen asleep watching some boring television show, she figured she would leave him alone. The teen had been feeling glum for a short amount of time, drinking some Mabel juice alone at the kitchen table.

Then Grunkle Ford walked through the threshold of the kitchen, immediately noticing the lonely-looking child drinking a suspiciously brightly-colored and toy-infested beverage. He had cleared his throat awkwardly, gaining Mabel's attention. The two stared each other for a few awkward moments, and Ford subconsciously folded his gloved hands behind his back.

"Good afternoon, Mabel." He'd greeted stiffly, eyes and posture soon softening in concerned when the girl looked away with a sigh.

"Hi, Grunkle Ford." The child said. Ford hadn't had much time to bond with his niece and decided to sit across from her with a polite "may I?" To which Mabel just nodded. A few more moments of awkward silence passed, and Ford decided to speak up again, hesitantly asking her if she was alright.

Mabel proceeded to go on a short spiel about how bored she was and how no one was there to hang out with her for the day, explaining where all her friends and family were too busy to spend time with her. Another awkward silence. Ford had thought about the lab and how he'd quarantined most dangerous chemicals and creatures.

He then offered for Mabel to come down to his lab in a moment of pity and want to make his niece feel better. Mabel had immediately perked up.

"Really?!" She'd asked, standing up on the chair and leaning close to her grunkle excitedly. The brunette was eager to have someone's company, and looking into the girl's eyes, Ford knew he couldn't take the offer back, even if he wanted to. With a cough and a confirmation, Mabel leaned back and squealed excitedly, rushing to the vending machine with a few hollers and shouts of joy, making sure to become quieter when she remembered her sleeping grunkle, put picking up the volume again as she got farther away from the tv room.

Ford patiently followed after her, surprised to see she had inputted the code to the vending machine herself. He looked at her, slightly impressed, before opening the secret entrance himself and gesturing inside of it with an "after you," making sure to securely close the door behind him as he followed Mabel down the stairs and into the elevator.

The ride down to the portal room was spent with Mabel listening to Ford as he explained how most of his lab should be safe and warned her not to touch anything too dangerous, like big, red buttons or sizzling liquids in beakers. Mabel nodded along with his words, not really listening, but cautious when the elevator doors opened.

She followed Ford out into the room, looking around at the science-y machines she hadn't gotten a close look at the last time she was here. She tapped an old dial, sneezing and giggling at the dust that puffed off of it. Ford called for her, and she all but skipped to him, observing all the cool, nerdy gadgets surrounding her.

Ford kept an eye on his niece's actions, making sure she didn't touch anything that would cause her any harm. He watched as she walked up to his desk, looking at the nostalgic illustration before her and gasping in recognition. He walked towards her, curious as she pointed at his overly-cute drawing of a gnome.

"Ooh! A gnome! I accidentally dated a few once, at the beginning our first summer here!" She exclaimed, looking up at Ford, who seemed surprised.

"Dated? You've dated gnomes?" He asked, part intrigued, part disbelieving. Mabel beamed at him in response, nodding.

"Yep! They all sort of stacked on top of each other to fit into clothes and pretended to be a teenage boy. Dipper thought they were a zombie at first or some crazy thing like that." She explained casually, plopping onto the worn, leather chair in front of the desk. Ford blinked, immediately interested in what this girl had to share about one of his investigated anomalies.

"Incredible." He said, carefully rolling Mabel away from his desk to find a pen, preparing to add more information the the random notes he'd made for fun. Better than sitting and waiting for calculations to turn out right through the technology he'd created to go over them.

"Please, continue." He requested, almost excitedly, when he looked back at the girl, who looked around the lab in interest. She seemed excited to share more of what she had encountered in Gravity Falls, going on to rant about different adventures she and her friends had gone through. Meeting convenience store ghosts, saving a cloned boyband, seeing Grunkle Stan totally slay a horde of zombies, and more!

This led to Mabel gasping rather loudly after sharing her experience with Mermando as a thought made its way into her mind. Ford looked over at her completely, raising an eyebrow as he saw her excited expression.

"What is it? Have you touched a chemical or something? What's wrong?" He asked in concern, raising from his crouched position over his journals and walking over to his niece. Mabel squealed suddenly, making the old man jump slightly and cause his glasses to shift out of place. As he reached up to adjust them with one hand, Mabel jumped up and out of her seat to grab his other one and jump and down in excitement.

"No, the only problem here is that you haven't experienced any summer romances here yet, Grunkle Ford!" She yelled, letting go of him to pace around the room. Ford looked at her with a confused expression.

"Yes, well, I've only just came back from another dimension a short while ago, so--" Mabel was quick to cut him off.

"That's not the point! When was the last time you've had a date?!" Mabel asked loudly, stopping in front of her grunkle. Ford blinked, looking around nervously.

"Uh... never?" He asked more than said, rubbing the back of his head as his cheeks heated up in slight embarrassment. After all, his niece had gotten multiple boyfriends of different species at her age, and he hadn't even been in a relationship once. Granted, he was stuck in another dimension for thirty years, but still!

Mabel all but screeched, running around in circles a few times. Ford plugged his ears, squinting at the girl in confusion. Was she okay? Did he just break his niece with two words? He must've gained more skills in the past three decades than he thought. Oh god, Stanley would kill him.

After a few worrying moments, Mabel suddenly screeched to a stop in front of Ford, screeches turning into squeals.

"Eek! Grunkle Ford, do you know what this means?!" She shouted, looking up at her grunkle with a strange twinkle in her eyes. Before Ford could respond and explain that no, he did not know what "this" meant, the giddy preteen answered for him. "We're gonna find you a girlfriend!"

Ford blinked in bewilderment again. Before he could question the girl, Mabel grabbed his hand and practically dragged the man up the stairs and burst through the secret entrance with a strength and speed Ford found was more than slightly intimidating.

Within seconds, the two were dashing and being dragged past the tv room and out the front door as the brunette child shouted back to a sleeping Stanley, "love is gonna happen, be back soon!" Ford didn't know what this particular exclamation meant, but he felt very vulnerable when his resting brother mumbled out a sleepy "whatever" and shifted slightly as he was pulled into town.

Soon, the very energetic fourteen year-old had totally sprinted into a shopping mall, and Ford became incredibly grateful that his stamina had increased greatly as a result of all the running and dodging and climbing and jumping he'd had to do to survive before Stanley reopened the portal and went on that trip with him.

"Okay!" Mabel panted, drawing Ford out of his thoughts. "So, here's the plan..."

Ford had immediately become lost when his niece began to lecture him. She told him to stay "cool," and remain calm, maintain eye contact, compliment every lady he managed to talk to, and way more "rules" and "tips" on "picking up women." He decided to stare at her blankly and nod his head a few times in false acknowledgment, genuinely confused for the first time in who knows how long.

All Ford could even vaguely understand was that his young niece had taken him to an environment he sure as hell wasn't comfortable with. He thought about how he owned twelve PHDs, built a portal to another dimension, hopped from universe to universe alone, researched more creatures the rest of the world didn't bother to even imagine, and many more of his lifetime accomplishments.

Yet he had realized long ago that all his hard work had been put to waste when he couldn't even begin to understand the greatest anomaly there ever was, the greatest mystery unsolved for all of time.

Women.

Women were absolutely, mindboggingly terrifying to him. What did they like? What didn't they like? Why were they so specific about certain things, but not other things? How did they think? How did they function? Why did they always go into the restroom in packs?

No matter how hard Ford tried, he never could begin to even remotely understand the behaviorism of these beautifully deadly creatures. They were so different from him, so... complicated! Fear and anxiety crept into his mind.

Just what was he going to be forced to do in this crowded shopping center? Unfortunately, that question was quickly answered.

"Got it?" Mabel asked the flabbergasted adult, looking at him dead in the eye as he shuffled slightly, glancing away for a few moments.

"No." He answered timidly, as if he was a child who's tutor had questioned him after going over incredibly important test material. Ford began to think that this was the situation he was forced into as Mabel groaned in defeat after realizing her grunkle had most likely ignored her two minute long lecture about information she thought he'd need to survive around females.

The teenager looked around, spotting a middle-aged woman she thought looked pretty. She pointed to the woman, who was sitting on a bench alone and reading a magazine.

"There. Go up to her and compliment something, we'll see what happens from there." She said, looking between the lady and Ford to make sure he was paying attention.

"Uh, Mabel, I don't think-" Ford was quickly cut off, being shoved in the direction of the lone woman who say only a few meters away.

"Just go!" Mabel whisper-shouted as she ducked behind a potted plant, out of sight of the woman. Ford, seeing no way out of this, carefully approached the female, standing up straight and habitually placing his hands behind his back. He cleared his throat and got the woman's attention.

"Um... Good afternoon. May I sit with you?" He asked, cheeks dusting pink when her eyes scanned him up and down and she wordlessly scooted over to make room for him.

"Oh, thanks." Ford said awkwardly, not expecting that to work. He was greatly frightened as he took a seat on the bench, a respectable amount of space away from the woman. A moment of silence occurred, and the distressed man looked to his niece, who's head was peeking out from behind a leaf of the plant in front of her.

She stuck an arm out and moved her hand in a circular motion, as if to say "go on." Ford gulped and looked back at the woman, who was immersed in her magazine. Ford noticed the contents, which he recognized to be of different scenery in different locations.

"You have a good taste in magazines." He attempted to compliment. "Planning on traveling anywhere?"

The lady glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, and Ford stiffened.

"No." She replied bluntly, turning the page.

"Oh. I've, uh, traveled to many places. Have you ever gone to Europe? Europe is a nice place." He started to ramble weirdly. Another glance from the woman and she was gone, standing up and silently walking away from him. Ford squeaked out a "bye" and stood up himself, rubbing the back of his neck as he made his way over to a pouting Mabel.

"Grunkle Ford, you weren't confident enough!" She whined, crossing her arms.

"Ah, I don't believe that was the case. You see..." He started, but trailed off pathetically, not having anything more to say. Mabel sighed and moved from behind the plant, taking his wrist and leading him to another part of the mall.

The next twenty minutes were a nightmare. As Mabel pointed out women for Ford to walk up to, he froze up and stiffly greeted them. Eventually, they'd leave after awkward silences and cringeworthy compliments, such as "what a great novel. I find it nice that you can read," or "dogs are man's best friends. Dog owners like you are mostly good people."

Mabel would scold him afterwards, criticizing his confidence and posture and more. With each stranger, Ford felt more and more homesick, aching to return to his lab and continue his research. Notes and machines didn't glare at him or rudely get up and leave when he made a mistake. He felt comfortable around those he knew and those who understood him.

After a while, the two made their way out of the shopping center. Mabel was disappointed that she couldn't teach her grunkle to flirt and be social well enough. Then again, what did she expect? The old man had probably spent most of his life cooped up and studying.

She'd asked him what kind of women he preferred, and if he had any crushes, but he shut her down with a "there's been a woman in my mind my whole life, but I've no doubt she's moved on." She was suspicious, of course, but couldn't get any other information out of him about this woman.

"Gosh, I'm sorry, Grunkle Ford. I've wasted your time, haven't I? I guess we can go back to the Mystery Shack now..." She murmured, obviously upset. Ford felt bad and suddenly wanted to find a way to make it up to her, whatever "it" was. He stopped, causing Mabel to stop as well and look up at him.

"Say, uh... kiddo, why don't we get some lunch? We've spent an awful long time walking about, and all those rejections left me craving some comfort food." Ford offered, remembering snagging Stanley's wallet from the couch earlier just to irritate him when he woke up. Ever since the two had gone on that boat trip together, they'd gotten closer and more familiar with "pranking" each other.

Stanley would hide important notes, Ford would hide the cash register, Stanley would replace the ink of pens with glitter glue, Ford would spray paint gold chains silver, and so on. Ford took Stanley's wallet out from inside his trench coat to show Mabel, who grinned up at him and nodded.

"C'mon, let's go to the diner!" She exclaimed, obviously hungry herself. Stanford followed the girl as she skipped into town. When they arrived at the diner, Ford went ahead and held the door open for her, and she slipped inside with a quick "thank you!"

Ford stepped inside behind her, looking around as the door closed and singled the bell behind him. He took a seat across from Mabel, looking around and observing the quaint restaurant. Soon, a citizen they both immediately recognized as "Lazy" Susan approached the table and greeted them, taking their orders after giving them a short time to look over the menu.

When she left to place their order, Mabel suddenly gasped. Ford raised his brow and was about to question her, when she suddenly jumped up out of her seat and ran to the entrance of the diner to greet Dipper and Soos, who looked like they'd been on the adventure of a lifetime. Ford stood up and made his way to follow her, but he bumped straight into another person who had entered the restaurant.

"O-Oh! My apologies, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!" Ford stammered, quickly kneeling down to gather a pile of notes and writing utensils. A feminine figure knelt down before him, picking up what they could themselves.

"Oh no, it's alright! It was my fault, you're fine!" The person stated. Ford could've sworn the voice was familiar, but brushed it off to focus on cleaning up the mess he caused. When the person in front of him paused and mumbled under their breath, however, he froze.

"Six fingers?" They asked themselves, and Ford flushed red and stood up, fumbling to catch a pencil he had nearly dropped.

"Uh, sorry, here's your stuff, ma'am!" He held everything he'd picked up, looking away to avoid eye contact. It was ridiculous that he was self-conscious of his six fingers, even now, but he couldn't help it. Ford cursed himself in his mind, mentally saying things to himself like "you klutz," and "be more careful," and "you might get slapped for this, darn it!"

"Ford? Stanford Pines?" The voice asked, disbelieving. The woman stood up, taking her belongings from the flustered male and reaching up to fix his crooked glasses gently. Ford looked at her in confusion, eyes widening when he recognized her.

"(Y-Y/n)! What are you doing here? I thought you were-" Ford was cut off by a laugh from the woman, who walked past him to place her things on the table of the booth he was sitting in.

"Studying in Hawaii? Yeah, I finished my research there years ago. I've just been wandering the states since then. May I?" She asked, gesturing to the seat Mabel had jumped out of.

"Please," Ford invited, sitting down across from her. "What have you been doing recently?" He asked, obviously interested. As the two effortlessly struck up a conversation, Mabel squealed quietly and pulled Soos and her brother into a booth a decent amount of space away from the two adults.

"Who's she?" Dipper asked, looking at the woman talking with Ford. The trio watched as she rummaged through her notes, showing their grunkle a piece of paper with writing and diagrams sketched across it as the male observed it with fascination.

"I have no idea, but I'm loving this!" Mabel exclaimed. She went on to explain what she and Ford did the whole morning, pausing occasionally as the two commented on a few things. When she had said everything down to the last detail, the three looked at the couple, who were excitedly chattering about complicated experiments they'd done and adventures they'd experienced.

"Bros, that must be the lady he mentioned!" Soos pointed out. The young twins were quick to agree, and Mabel died out of happiness on the inside when she saw how content her grunkle looked talking to this beautiful stranger. (Y/n), was it?

The woman had (h/l), (h/c) hair and clear skin. She wore a simple jacket, t-shirt, and jeans, along with dark boots that nearly matched Ford's. She listened to Ford as he talked and laughed at some things he'd joked about. Mabel knew they must've had a good relationship in the past since they talked like old friends catching up, which they were. Mabel gave Ford a wide grin and two thumbs up from her seat.

Ford saw this and blushed slightly, his sentence breaking. The woman looked behind her to see the two teens and adult man sitting together in their booth and smiled at them, giving them a friendly wave and earning three in return. She turned back to Ford.

"Those three related to you?" She asked, curious. Ford shook his head, then coughed awkwardly.

"Only the two kids, my great-niece and nephew. They're twins, believe it or not. The large one is their friend who's taken over my brother's business." He explained. (Y/n) nodded.

"I see. I'd liked to look back at the two children and point out their similarities, but I don't want to seem rude or make them uncomfortable." She said a bit quieter, smiling when Ford laughed.

"By the way, you haven't spoken much about your brother. How is he? I'd really like to meet him someday, he seems like a good guy beneath his huge criminal record." She said. Ford stiffened, and the woman explained herself. "The news went on about all the things he did under your name. Kind of hilarious, actually. I'm sure it wasn't actually you though, you mentioned the both of you being twins as well?"

Ford nodded, explaining that while he was... away for thirty years, his brother had taken on his identity for some reason.

"It was a bit of a hassle, going to court to divorce a rusty old statue he married somewhere in Vegas. I wish I was joking." Ford said, making his partner laugh.

A bit of time passed with the two talking about more personal experiences. When Lazy Susan brought Mabel and Ford's orders out, Mabel silently took Ford's food to their table, earning two "thank you"s and a piece of candy from (Y/n).

"She's so nice!" Mabel exclaimed as she unwrapped her lollipop, leaving her own order to the boys to share. Eventually, Soos had to go back to the Mystery Shack to greet Melody, leaving Dipper and Mabel to wait for Ford. Dipper continued the story of what he and Soos encountered in the woods, and even after that ended, Ford was still talking with the mysterious woman.

When the diner was about to close, Ford called McGucket with her phone and talked with him for a few minutes. When he'd hung up, the two adults had gathered their things and stood up, waving the kids over.

"Kids, I've contacted McGucket, and since Miss (Y/n) here has nowhere to stay, he agreed on letting her come with us." Ford explained to them, then turned to a patient (Y/n) as he pulled out his wallet to pay for his meal. "He'll be happy to meet you again, even if he doesn't remember you."

"I hope so. Maybe we'll be able to work together again, just like old times." She said. She turned to greet the twins, holding out a hand. "Hi there! Call me (Y/n), I do hope you'll be comfortable living with me until I can find a home here for the summer."

Mabel and Dipper introduced themselves, shaking her hand politely.

"Of course we'll be okay with you here! More than okay! It's about time we've had another girl in the house!" Mabel exclaimed.

"Why thank you." The woman smiled as Mabel led her to the door of Greasy's Diner. Ford and Dipper followed suit, Dipper retelling his story of the new creature he and Soos found as they all walked out to be greeted by an orange sky.


	2. An Afternoon Stroll

"So, do you like anyone?" Mabel asked teasingly, looking up at the attractive female as they walked side-by-side. (Y/n) took a sharp breath in, stopping in place for a few moments to cough, choking on her own saliva embarrassingly. Mabel stopped as well to pat her back, lips pursed tightly as she thought about whether it was okay to laugh. She decided not to, and (Y/n) spoke.

"Uh, excuse me?" She coughed quietly a few more times, looking behind her shoulder to make sure Ford hadn't noticed and come rushing to her aid. She then looked down at the teen, who looked excited to hear possibly juicy information.

"You heard me! Got any crushes?" Mabel drew out, the two females starting to walk again. The older woman looked up at the pink and orange sky for a moment, seemingly thinking.

After leaving the diner, Dipper had gotten excited to share his stories with the new adult, elated to learn that she was nearly just as interested in anomalies as he and Ford were. Mabel was happy to find out that this lady's intelligence didn't affect her playfulness and eventually roped her into a girly conversation the two had then claimed "boys weren't allowed to hear."

The girls had split from the males, speeding up their pace to talk in private as they walked to McGucket's manor he'd bought after the Northwest's were evicted. The four had agreed that a short walk would be good for them after all the excitement of the day before they called for a cab to drive them the rest of the way up. For now, though, the two pairs chatted amongst themselves.

"I mean, no one travels all over the world and doesn't fall in love at least once! You've got to have some nerdy love stories inside ya somewhere, right?" The fourteen year-old continued, gently nudging her partner in the side with a few wiggles of her eyebrows. (Y/n) seemed to blush slightly, avoiding eye contact with Mabel, who squealed a few moments after.

"Eek! You do! Who is it? Spill!" She started bouncing on her heels, bringing her fists to her chest as her eyes shone with what the blushing woman knew was understanding. Mabel, of course, knew exactly who it was (Y/n) was interested in.

"U-Um... I don't know, he's so out of my league..." She stammered in response, rubbing her own arm comfortably. Mabel squealed again, and (Y/n) winced a little before smiling. This girl's charm was too much for her to handle. Mabel grabbed (Y/n)'s arm to help herself balance as she stood on her toes, leaning closer to the woman in a secretive manner.

"It's Grunkle Ford, isn't it?" The teen whispered to her excitedly, falling back on her feet to continue walking normally, although her hand never left the other girl's arm.

She nodded after taking a moment to breathe in, looking behind her again to make sure Ford hadn't somehow heard Mabel's whispers.

"Eeeeeeeeeeek!" The giddy girl squealed, hopping all around (Y/n), who spun around to follow her.

"Mabel!" Dipper called from a few meters behind the two. "You're being way too loud, for a second there we'd thought you'd come back here to yell at us!"

Mabel merely giggled as (Y/n) called back to the two males to apologize. Dipper sighed, looking up at his grunkle. His brow raised when he saw the man smile and wave his hand, the young boy turning his head to see the woman with his sister return the actions immediately.

He knew that look. How could he not? That was the look he wore when he was obsessed with Wendy those few years ago.

"Grunkle Ford, do you like her?" Dipper asked, looking back at his grunkle, already knowing the answer to his own question. He just wanted to hear it from Ford, who coughed awkwardly and looked away from him.

"Like who?" He asked unconvincingly, looking around. Dipper chuckled, and Ford's gaze snapped to him.

"(Y/n). You do, don't you?" The teen asked knowingly with a smile. The old man cleared his throat, not bothering to answer. It seemed his nephew already knew. Wait, if Dipper knew, what if Mabel knew? Oh god, maybe the girls are talking about it right now! He looked ahead of him, relieved to see the two talking causally. Maybe not, then.

"Oh my gosh, you do!" Dipper laughed, punching Ford in the arm playfully. "You sly dog, you!"

The man chuckled a little himself, gaze going to Dipper for only a few seconds, then moving back to admire the woman laughing happily with his niece. He had to thank Fiddleford for letting her stay with them, he'd be worried if he had to watch her leave for the day knowing she had no place to stay. He knew she liked to camp, but the woods here were dangerous.

"You checking her out?" Dipper joking, grinning as Ford became flustered, stammering out almost incoherent words. The teen decided to stop him, asking another question he knew his grunkle would be more comfortable with.

"So, how did you two meet?" He asked, and the old man stopped his stuttering. Ford looked up in thought, clearly thinking about his first encounter with (Y/n).

"We met in Backupsmore. We were classmates, and one of our professors had assigned a group project." Ford started, picturing the scene in his mind as he spoke.

\----

_"I'm sorry?" Stanford asked, furrowing his eyebrows together. His professor sighed._

_"Stanford, I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to work alone for this assignment. It has to be a group project for you to get a full grade. This lesson is based on teamwork. There's an even number of students in this class, I'm sure you know, and there's a female student who agreed to work with you." They explained calmly._

_"But, but-!"_

_"No 'but's, Pines. She'll be coming over in a moment. Please be nice, Miss (L/n) has already promised to be polite and trustworthy." The distraught student watched as his teacher walked away from him and to their cluttered desk. Stanford groaned, placing his head in his hands._

_He knew this class was a class for slackers. This was the class taken by people who didn't want to do much in terms of schoolwork. He hadn't meant to be here! Apparently, the Advanced Literature class he'd signed up for was full, and this class had a few empty spots left. As a result, he and a few other students were placed here by who Ford thought was a lazy registrar who carelessly decided to put smarter and reckless students alike into a class without the credits Ford had wanted to earn._

_At first, he'd been optimistic. This class was known by many students, including himself, as an "easy A" class, which had most of its grades as participation points. This meant there were little to no real assignments, basically making it into a study hall Ford could use to... well, study._

_Occasionally, the students would be assigned whack projects, such as making posters for school events and hanging them around campus (he had gotten extra credit for that one, seeing as he had certain skills when it came to art), and writing a few-page essay on their experiences their first semester (he got a point deducted because of this assignment since most of his essay revolved around studying and doing homework, which Ford didn't think was fair)._

_Ford had felt slightly insulted. These were things high-schoolers, no, middle-schoolers did! Why, even Stanley could get a full grade in this class! This was college, an elective such as this one shouldn't have been offered!_

_As if the situation wasn't bad enough, Ford was constantly surrounded by blubbering idiots who didn't bother to plug in their earbuds when listening to music and had the nerve to ask if they could copy his homework, which he had to politely refuse multiple times! Just who did they think they were?_

_An their project for this week was "teamwork." Teamwork! Yes, the thing you learn in elementary school. Ford nearly scoffed just thinking about it. Nevermind the actual "teamwork" part, he could very well create and present something on the topic by himself!_

_Ugh, with his luck, he'd be partnered up with some weird girl he wouldn't be able to relate to. She'd probably be the type to get along well with his brother, considering the environment he's in. Lazy, ignorant, probably more focused on her social life than her academic achievements. Whoever this "Miss (L/n)" was, she could just take her rubric and back the heck off._

_Ford looked up when he was tapped on the shoulder, ready to plaster on a smile and put up a polite façade. He was sure he wasn't going to like his new partner. He opened his mouth to introduce himself, but his words were quickly caught in his throat._

_Woah._

_The beauty in front of him made the student's heart skip a beat and his palms start sweating. She was gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. Her (h/l) hair shone under the bright classroom lights. Her eyes sparkled with friendliness and excitement, making Ford believe she was actually rather happy to be working with someone._

_After a few silent seconds of him staring and his mouth opening and closing like a fish's, Ford cleared his throat awkwardly and sit up straight. If the girl had noticed him staring, she did a good job of hiding it, simply smiling kindly and outstretching a hand, her other hand holding a pencil case and a folder to her side._

_"Hi there! I'm (Y/n), your new partner!" She said, her very voice making Ford blush. She sounded genuinely excited about meeting him. "It'll be nice working with you for the week!"_

_Ford cleared his throat, forcing his blush down and shaking (Y/n)'s soft hand politely._

_"Stanford Pines. Uh, the same goes for me. I take it you were left out as well?" He asked, cursing himself mentally afterwards. Dammit, Ford, what a rude thing to say! And to someone you just met, no less!_

_But to his surprise, the girl in front of him laughed. He felt the blush rising into his cheeks and ears again._

_"Haha, yeah! Everyone else here seems to know each other really well. It's a shame, really, everyone in this class is either not interested in getting to know people outside of their friend group, or are just totally unrelatable." She commented, looking around at the groups and pairs of people chatting together._

_"Well, what do you relate to?" Ford asked, calming down now that her interested stare wasn't directed at him. Wait, no, nevermind, she's the type to make direct eye contact when speaking to someone. He's going to have to get used to that, although he felt slightly respected._

_"Meh, nothing too interesting." She waved off, sitting down next to him as she explained her music interests and hobbies. Ford lit up as she said she enjoyed curling up and reading books, or just hanging out by herself in the library. He got even more excited when she talked about how she enjoyed inventing things and working with chemicals and studying the paranormal._

_"To be honest, I might want to be a traveling scientist one day! Ah, I'm sorry, I ramble a lot. Sorry if I'm boring you." She stopped abruptly, blushing softly and moving to open her folder, taking out a stack of neat assignments and straightening them out more against the desk. Ford blinked in mild confusion, then spoke to reassure the flustered girl beside him._

_"Oh, no no! You're fine, you're not boring me at all! I-In fact, I'm quite interested in what you have to say. I mean, I find all those things interesting as well, and-"_

_"R-Really?"_

_"Yes! Definitely! Absolutely! Erm, I actually signed up for Advanced Literature and ended up here, so I'm sorry for aweing at you! I, uh, expected you to be, um, a lower level? That didn't make any sense, but, um-"_

_"Advanced Lit.? Oh, I signed up for that, too! I thought I was the only one who didn't make it in!"_

_"Well, it seems we have a few things in common, after all! I have a friend, Fiddleford, who also shares some common interests!"_

_"Fiddleford McGucket? The one who makes those weird, cool, machine-y things?"_

_"Yes, him! I noticed you two had the same interests, as well! Would you like to meet up with us sometime? Outside of academics, I mean. Well, mostly."_

_"Oh, of course! That sounds fun!"_

_The two students rambled on and on about themselves and their similar situation, finding they were more alike than either of them had thought. Eventually, they realized they should start making plans to meet up for their given homework, which was to start drafting and planning their presentation together._

_They got along rather quickly, although Stanford was very nervous when his new friend noticed something about him while he was scheduling their future meet-ups. It took a few seconds for Ford to realize this, as he was talking while writing, but he looked over at (Y/n) when she didn't answer his question to confirm a certain time of meeting._

_"So that's five thirty on Thursday?" Ford looked over to his classmate with a raised brow. "(Y/n)?"_

_She looked awestruck, staring at what he thought was his writing. Ford looked down again, only to realize she was most likely observing his hand rather than a mistaken time in his planner. She slowly started to reach for his hand that gripped his pen, then suddenly blinking and looking up at the male bashfully._

_"Uh, may I?" She asked feebly, starting to pull her hand back. Ford tensed, but let go of the pen and offered his hand to her with a small blush. His heart fluttered when she smiled at him and grabbed his hand gently, turning it over every few seconds._

_"Wow..." She breathed, and the brunette could only sit there, flustered and slightly startled. Who could blame him? Someone he'd met only ten, twenty minutes ago was studying the thing he was most self-conscious about! How would she react? Would she suddenly pull away after confirming his abnormality? Would she raise her hand with a frown and ask to switch partners? Would she feel uncomfortable and not want to be friends anymore? Would she-_

_Ford shuddered. Okay, he hadn't expected (Y/n) to stroke every one of his fingers in what felt like admiration. He almost couldn't watch, now flushing a furiously embarrassed shade of crimson as the beautiful woman separated his fingers, counting each of them under her breath as she felt the sensitive softness of Ford's fingertips._

_After what felt like a long, intimate eternity, but what could've only been a few minutes, as most, (Y/n) released her grip on Ford only slightly and used her other hand to brush a piece of hair from her face, looking up at him with a grin that made his heart stop._

_"Dude, that's so cool! Why didn't you tell me you had extra fingers?" She teased, giggling as she saw the flustered expression on his face. Ford looked away to catch his breath, clearing his throat awkwardly. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder._

_"Aw, did I embarrass you? Sorry, Ford, I couldn't help myself. I get carried away sometimes, I guess." The girl shrugged, smile turning apologetic. Ford nervously smiled back._

_"No, um, I-it's fine. Your, uh, hands are just... soft?" He asked more than stated, raising a hand to rub at the back of his neck in comfort. (Y/n) laughed, and he chuckled at his own lame attempts at flattery._

_"Thanks! Your hands are incredible in a lot of different ways. You're really cool, Stanford." She smiled, a bit of pink dusting across her cheeks._

_"Oh, well, thanks, uh, you're pretty cool, too." Ford complimented, tripping over his words a few times. (Y/n) laughed again, and Ford found himself wanting to hear it more often. The two never noticed they were still holding hands until Ford did when he had to write a few more things._

_He was suddenly really grateful he was ambidextrous._

\----

Ford sighed, and Dipper chuckled, his hands in his pockets as they walked.

"I know that sigh," the teen said, and his grunkle looked at him. "That's the sigh I'd use when I thought about Wendy a few years ago. You've got it bad, man."

Ford chuckled, nodding his head and gently patting his nephew on the shoulder a few times.

"That I do, kid. That I do." He agreed. Dipper grinned.

"Stanford! Dipper!" Called a feminine voice, gaining the two males' attention. They saw (Y/n) and Mabel waving at them with wide grins, the older girl tucking away her cellphone as the boys moved to stand near the two.

"I called a taxi, if you don't mind. Mabel said she was getting a bit tired." (Y/n) explained, smiling down at the young girl. When Dipper looked at his twin, a mutual understanding came between the two of them. Soon a cab arrived, since the service wasn't really used often in the small town.

Ford took out Stan's wallet, and when he pulled out a little more than enough money to pay for the ride, Mabel snatched the wallet out of his hands.

"Wha-"

"Sorry, Grunkle Ford, (Y/n), but the taxi might be a little crowded! Tell you what, we kids will get a ride first, and you two can share the next one! Grunkle Ford, do you have enough to pay for your ride? Yes? Great, now you two continue walking or whatever, we'll send the cab back to pick you guys up, okay, bye!" Mabel rambled as she and her brother got into the car.

The twins waved out the window, the two adults catching them share a high-five when the teens thought they were out of sight. The two stunned friends looked at each other, then remembered the conversations they had with each of the twins and looked away quickly, blushing.

Ford was the one to break the silence with a cough.

"Welp, a certain pair of kids have just gotten themselves grounded for the rest of the week." He said. (Y/n) laughed, and Ford chuckled along with her.

"Come, there should be a bench near here." Ford gestured ahead of them, and the woman nodded with a kind grin. The two walked alongside each other, bumping sides occasionally and laughing with each other quietly every time they did so. Eventually, they did reach a small, wooden bench that was placed in the grass a few feet away from the sidewalk, which Ford dusted off for them and sat down after his partner.

The woman sighed and leaned back on her hands as the man carefully stuffed the money he'd grabbed into a pocket inside of his trench coat. He took a moment to look at the darkening sky, then turned his gaze to (Y/n) as she spoke.

"The sky's really beautiful when you get away from all the pollution of the city, huh?" She asked, and Ford nodded in agreement.

"It is. Breathtaking, really." He said, never taking his eyes off of her. He only looked away quickly when she glanced at him with a calm smile.

"It's kind of romantic, actually." She sighed again, admiring the colored clouds above them. "What I wouldn't give to have a nice, peaceful dinner as the sun set."

She then laughed quietly, and Ford felt his muscles relax, shoulders dropping as he listened to that beautiful sound. He hadn't realized until he met her at the diner earlier just how much he missed her soothing voice. The woman looked at him, her eyes shining and swirling with all sorts of colors and emotions Ford was too overwhelmed to read.

"Sorry," she apologized, grinning somewhat bashfully now. "This got real cheesy, real fast."

"No, no, it's fine!" Ford assured, finding himself lost in this woman's gaze. He couldn't look away. Just what had she done to him? He blushed when she giggled softly.

"If you're so fine with it, I'm gonna have to take advantage of you and be cheesy more often." She half-joked, finally freeing the lovestruck man from her piercing gaze. It was his turn to laugh.

"I'd be honored." He told her as the two looked up again to awe at the clouds. (Y/n) didn't show it, but she was nervous. She wasn't told that Mabel would leave her alone with Ford, and she'd bet anything Ford hadn't been told anything about this setup from Dipper. Gee, you get someone to open up to you and then you leave them to be awkward with their crush? That girl would be the death of her.

Ah, what did Mabel say to her? "Take the initiative"? Oh, geez, she was gonna regret this so bad if Ford rejected her hand.

'Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh-' The woman chanted in her mind nervously, her hand slowly creeping closer and closer to Ford's, which laid beside him. She found that she started gently gnawing on the inside of her cheek in a lame attempt to comfort herself.

(Y/n)'s hand lay on top of the six-fingered hand beside her. She felt the man tense, and she held her breath. After a few long moments, Ford flipped his hand beneath hers so their palms were together, and (Y/n) entwined her fingers with his as he did the same. The two were pleasantly surprised to find that her fingers fit snugly between his, their hearts fluttering.

The two were blushing like two middle-schoolers after sharing their first kiss, and the two couldn't bring themselves to look at each other. When they both gained the will to, their eyes met immediately and they looked up at the sky again, extremely flustered.

A few minutes passed, and the taxi came, stopping near them when the driver recognized the two. The adults stood up together when they saw it, not having calmed down the slightest bit, and Ford opened the door for (Y/n), gesturing with his free hand for her to enter the car. She let out a squeaky "thanks," and the man sat down beside her, closing the door behind him.

"McGucket Manor, please." Ford said as firm as he could (which wasn't very firm at all... ew no wait, that sounded wrong--). The driver only raised his brow at the man's flustered voice, but shrugged and made a U-turn, driving back the way he came.

Thankfully, the ride wasn't long, and Ford made sure to tip the driver moderately for him putting up with the very awkward atmosphere. The pair was still holding hands as the yellow-painted car drove off, the large gates closing behind it.

From inside the house, a long squeal echoed down the hall as a certain 14 year-old girl peered out the first floor window of the mansion, her pig having been brought there by Stanley and oinking at her curiously. Her twin brother was grinning a small grin beside her, the two spotting their entwined hands.

Their grunkle was both curious and slightly annoying by his niece's noise, and grumpily came up behind them, rubbing his ears and adjusting his hearing aids, a pink can of Pitt Cola in one hand. He frowned.

"What, why are you screeching? Dipper, did your sister get into the sugar again? I thought I told Fidds to keep it locked in that really high cabinet--"

"No, Grunkle Stan, look!" The teen shouted loudly, jumping up and down with one hand on the windowsill and one hand pointing out to the two people slowly making their way to the front door. Stan squinted.

"Who's that, some... some salesmen? Girl scouts? Why are those girl scouts holding hands?" He mumbled, taking a sip of soda.

"They're not girl scouts! It's Grunkle Ford and his new girlfriend!" Mabel yelled unnecessarily, jumping back and away from the window with Dipper as the old man did a spit take on the window in front of them.

"Girlfriend?!" Stan yelled, him and Mabel running to another window to get a clear look. Mabel continued squealing as Stan let out a low whistle.

"Go, Sixer! Wow, who woulda thought he'd get such a catch?" By now, Ford and (Y/n) had noticed the two, immediately letting go of each other. Ford cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses, and the woman waved with a charming smile. Even as the two were slightly shadowed by the sky darkening outside, their faces were illuminated enough by the lights of the mansion, and the two looking out at them through the window didn't miss the blushes on their faces.

Stan and Mabel waved back, Dipper going to find something to clean up the mess on the window. Ford opened the door for his companion, and the two flustered nerds stepped inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk where I was going with this, but I guess it wasn't bad?? Idk, I hope you enjoyed! It took me a bit longer than expected, but I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! I'm getting pretty tired now, oops. I'll edit this later. Probably. Thanks for reading!


	3. Family Dinner

"Heya, Sixer! Ma'am." Stanley went over to greet the two, raising his fez momentarily as he acknowledged a smiling (Y/n). Ford closed the door behind them and turned to his brother, who was raising a brow at him in suggestive curiosity. Ford shook his head, then raised a hand to gesture to the woman standing next to him.

"Stanley, this is (Y/n), a classmate from Backupsmore. Fiddleford agreed to have her stay until she finds a place of her own for the summer. (Y/n), this is my brother, Stanley, as you know." The woman stepped forward and held out a hand to Stan as she replied to Ford.

"How could I not? You two are twins, after all." She teased, making her partner blush. She giggled, then turned to Stanley as he took her hand and pulled her close to him, hugging the startled woman with one hand and patting her back. "Uh, nice to meet you, Stanley."

"Likewise. And call me Stan, it's shorter." The man grinned letting her pull away from him as he grinned. Mabel ran up to the trio, taking (Y/n)'s hand with a grin of her own.

"Excuse us!" The teen said to her grunkles, who nodded and let her pull the woman away and into the nearby kitchen, where Dipper walked past them with a rag. He and (Y/n) greeted each other kindly, the young boy smiling knowingly before exiting the room and leaving the two girls alone to talk.

Mabel lead the older girl to an empty counter in the back corner, letting go of her hand to pull herself up onto the intersecting part of it and patting the space next to her. The woman removed her backpack and set it on the floor before sitting on the counter with ease.

"Soooo..." Mabel grinned, leaning towards the woman, who glanced away awkwardly and leaned back a little. "Was it just the sugar packets I sneaked into my mouth, or did I see you and Grunkle Ford holding hands outside?"

(Y/n) blinked, unmoving, even when Mabel leaned back with sparkling eyes. The woman coughed into her fist a few times after a few silent moments passed, rubbing the back of her neck with her other hand.

"I, uh... Is that a rhetorical question?" She asked nervously. Mabel squealed, kicking her legs into the air and clasping her hands together.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! How?! When?! Who started it?! You?! Spill the beans, (Y/n)!" She nearly shrieked. The woman took a glance at the door, wanting to leave and hide in a room out of embarrassment.

"Well, uh..."

In the nearby lounge, two certain grunkles were relaxing in different chairs that had came with the mansion. Stan was sprawled out on a recliner, soda can in hand, and Ford was slouching a little in a comfy loveseat next to it. The television served as background noise as they had a conversation between sips of Pitt Cola.

"She was a good friend of McGucket and I. All three of us had a lot of things in common, and she was really friendly." Ford told his brother. Stanley smirked slightly.

"How friendly?" He asked teasingly, laughing when he received a punch in the arm from his flustered brother in response. "Geez, kidding, kidding. How smart is she? She reach your level, or what?"

Ford did a teetering hand motion, nodding his head a few times along with it.

"We just about balanced each other out, I suppose. Even now. Back then, she'd excel in the few subjects I didn't, and vice-versa. Now-"

"Now, you're an antisocial shut-in and she's out making friends with people all over the world." Stan cut his brother off. Ford opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again when he found Stan was very right. His smug brother laughed again at his silence.

"Heh, opposites do attract, don't they?" Stanley chuckled, taking a sip of his drink.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ford furrowed his eyebrows slightly, confused. His brother looked at him to see if he was serious, scoffing when he saw the puzzled expression on Ford's face.

"Really, bro? You two strut up the driveway holding hands and you don't think she's into you?"

"Well, i-it's better than assuming she is when she's really not." Ford argued. Rather than acknowledging the obvious reference to his behavior as a teen, Stan "tsk"ed and sat up straight to look his brother in the eye.

"Is it, Ford? Is it really?" He asked, a single brow raised. Ford shrugged slightly. Stan sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head. When he opened his eyes again, Ford spoke.

"Why, how is it not?" The oblivious man asked. Stan took another swig of his soda and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before replying.

"If you don't think you have a chance with the girl, you won't make any moves, right?" Ford was about to answer, but Stan continued. "And the girl expects the guy to start everything. You know, ask her out, pay for dinner, kiss her after a date. Who started the hand-holding thing you two had going on earlier?"

"Her." Ford answered simply, unable to hide the growing pink on his cheeks when he thought back to their short walk after the taxi had dropped them off. Her content smile, her soft skin, the warmth shared between the two of them as her fingers fit snugly between his...

Stan interrupted Ford's thoughts with a disapproving grunt. Ford looked at his twin, who waved a hand in front of himself as if to dismiss the fact that Ford had only followed after the woman's actions earlier.

"No, no, no, no. See, you've already taken a step onto the wrong path. You should be the one to start these things. If you're too shy to at first, that's alright, but eventually you're gonna have to man up and let her know you want these things to keep happening. Do you know how many women out there have waited for guys to ask 'em out on dates and then bailed on them 'cause the guy didn't bother to ask?"

Ford shook his head.

"No, you don't. Only certain ladies have the courage to ask guys out, Pointdexter. If (Y/n) is one of them, then damn, you're one lucky guy. If not, you better hurry up and take that girl on a date real soon. Between you and me, there aren't many attractive young women in this town. If you don't grow some balls and get with her, someone else will. How old is she again?"

Ford was unsure for a few moments. He thought out loud, bringing a hand up to his chin in thought as his brother waited patiently, silently judging some wacky infomercial on TV.

"Ah, let's see, that class was shared between different grades... That one wasn't, but she was an honor student in that subject, so she was moved up... She was accepted two years before I graduated, but she was an early high-school graduate, wasn't she? That makes her..." Ford counted on his fingers. "Five, six... seven? Yes, seven years younger than us."

"Bingo!" A feminine voice filled the room, and the two grunkles looked to the threshold of the lounge to see (Y/n) leaning against it, backpack on the floor next to her. She looked slightly worn-out, as if she had been incredibly flustered and just recently saved from an uncomfortable situation, but she wore a warm, genuine smile on her face regardless.

"(Y/n)!" Ford greeted, returning the smile. The man patted a spot on the cushion next to him, and the woman bent down to pick up her bag and walk over to him. She sighed as she plopped down next to Ford, shifting a bit closer to the male and disguising her movements as merely making herself more comfortable.

Stan noticed this and snickered, catching the woman's eye. Before Ford could ask his brother what was so funny, Stanley spoke.

"Mabel treatin' ya okay?" He asked the female, amused at her slightly disheveled state. The woman sighed again, but the grin never left her face.

"She was a bit of an interrogator, but eventually Dipper came to the rescue and told her that she was getting a call from one of her friends. She was pretty nice, but I'd recommend hiding the sugar a bit better. A locked cabinet won't keep a hungry teen girl out, y'know." The woman explained, leaning back against the soft backrest of the loveseat.

Stan frowned, mumbling an "I knew it" under his breath. Ford started to apologize, but (Y/n) waved her hand in front of him before he could finish.

"No no, it's fine. Kids will be kids, after all." She smiled again, and Ford just nodded and looked at the television, knowing he had just temporarily lost his ability to speak coherent sentences due to her silky soft voice and that heartwarming grin. His brother chuckled at this, and Ford glared at him as the woman next to him started watching the cartoon that had started playing.

"'Ducktective'? Oh man, I used to love this show!" She gasped, catching the two males' attention. "I mean, that one finale a few years back was totally predictable, but the rest of the series was really good at keeping that mysterious vibe. Although with all the subtle jokes only adults understand, it's a wonder it's still a kid's show!"

Stanley lit up and he looked at Ford, mouthing "she's a keeper" to him. Ford rolled his eyes, but a small smile crept onto his face as his brother and friend started having an in-depth conversation about the lore and jokes of the show.

Ford was pulled into talking about what he knew of the show a short while after the current episode ended. Stan mentioned how Ford had deemed Ducktective as a common kid's series, making the latter blush, but (Y/n) had subtly defended him, explaining how she and so many others she knew thought the same thing before actually watching it.

Before the three could continue, though, the younger Pines twins skipped and walked into the lounge respectively.

"Grunkle Stan, I'm hungry!" Mabel whined, stopping before the old man and shaking his arm. Stan lifted a hand to pat the teen's head a few times as she pouted.

"Eh, sorry, pumpkin. Fetch McGucket and ask him to order a pizza or something." He dismissed. Mabel groaned, and Dipper stepped forward, speaking up.

"But Grunkle Stan, we've been eating junk food all week. It's not healthy, and we're getting tired of it. Can't we go out or cook or something?" He asked, obviously sick of eating the same greasy food for who knows how long. His sister nodded eagerly, sharing the same opinion.

"Well, I suppose we can all go to the diner-" Ford started, but the twins shook their heads again.

"We already ate at the diner! We just came from there, remember?" Mabel refused, frowning. A small "oink" sounded from behind her, and (Y/n) leaned forward slightly to widen her eyes in delight at the pig that had seated itself behind the girl. The woman and pig seemed to lock eyes, and the animal stood up to walk over to her.

"Well then, what do you kids want to eat? There aren't many ideal restaurants we can afford that are open this late." Stan grunted, leaning back in his chair. "And the old man in the basement is kind of busy. It's not like he'll come up and go out to pay somewhere, even if he's some rich hillbilly who hasn't seen the light of day for a while."

The woman beside Ford giggled slightly as the pig lifted its front legs onto her knees, making another sound as she gently lifted it up so it could rest on her lap. It sniffed the lady's chin and neck, as far up as it could go, then "oink"ed again, making itself comfortable. The woman started stroking the pig's back like she would a dog or a cat, and it made a quiet noise of content.

"I don't know!" Mabel said exasperatedly, lifting her grunkle's hand to facepalm herself with it. Afterwards, she let go of him and turned to her brother for any ideas. The teen groaned again when Dipper just shrugged, and turned around to where her pet was sitting.

"Ugh, where do you think, Waddles? Waddles?" She looked around her, spinning in a full circle, before (Y/n) giggled again, catching the family's attention.

"Waddles? Is that your name?" She asked the pig on her lap kindly, and it almost seemed to nod its head before making another noise at her. Mabel ran over to the woman and took the pig off of her lap, slightly embarrassed.

"S-Sorry! He doesn't usually do that to strangers of his!" She apologized, looking at the woman after setting her pet onto the floor gently. Said woman just smiled calmly at the girl.

"It's alright, Mabel. I've handled a bunch of animals quite a few times. Waddles is a really friendly pig, you trained him well." She complimented, rubbing the pig's head as it brushed past her legs to stick his head into her partially opened backpack. As Mabel beamed and accepted the compliment, Waddles pulled out an apple. (Y/n) took it from him and held it so he could bite into it at a comfortable position happily.

"(Y/n), where do you wanna eat?" Stan asked the woman, trusting her to make a good decision. The woman looked up from Waddles to find that all eyes were on her, besides the pet she was feeding. She thought for a moment, still not familiar with the town of Gravity Falls.

"Um..." She thought aloud, turning over the apple in her hand when she noticed Waddles had already eaten to the core. "I can cook, if you'd li-"

"Then it's settled!" Stan clapped his hands abruptly, standing up and stretching his back, a few "pop"s coming from it. "You'll cook, we won't have to go out again, it'll be great. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go see what's goin' on in the basement. Call us up when there's food."

"Are you sure? You're our guest, after all." Ford turned to the woman in mild concern as his brother exited the lounge. The female just grinned and dismissively waved a hand in response.

"Ah, all the more reason to make dinner for you guys. Think of it as thanks for letting me stay." She said as she stood up, apple core in hand. "Besides, it'll be fun! I wouldn't mind having a few helpers, actually."

She looked at the twins with a smile, and Mabel gasped.

"Oh, we'd love to help! C'mon, Dipper, let's go find the aprons!" The girl said excitedly, grabbing her brother's wrist and pulling him to the kitchen. Dipper let out a yelp of surprise, but let his sister drag him along with a complaint of her tight grip. The two adults chuckled at them, and Ford stood up as well, grabbing the remote from the armchair of the recliner and turning off the television.

"Shall we?" He grinned at his partner, offering an elbow.

"We shall." She giggled, placing a hand on the inside of his elbow before they started walking. It was comfortably silent for a few moments before Ford decided to make small talk.

"You seem to be getting along great with the kids." The man said, looking at the woman for a few seconds before turning back to watch where he was going. (Y/n) smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"You think?" She asked somewhat beautifully, grin growing wider when Ford nodded in confirmation. "Oh, thank you! That's a relief. Your grandchildren are really wonderful, I'd be ashamed if they felt like I was intruding for however long I stay."

The man smiled reassuringly, looking down at the happy woman. All too soon, they had reached the kitchen, and he swung the door open, taking his arm from (Y/n) to keep it open for her.

"What a gentleman!" She complimented with a giggle, slipping past Ford with a "thank you." He nodded in response, cheeks growing slightly pink before he stepped forward, hand still on the door so it wouldn't swing into him as he entered the kitchen.

"(Y/n), look! We found an apron that should fit you and Grunkle Ford!" Mabel immediately dashed to the two adults once she noticed them, two aprons in hand. The woman gasped and took the smaller one, smiling as she held it up in front of her.

"This is my favorite color, what a coincidence! Thanks, you two!" She beamed at the kids, Mabel smiling back and Dipper starting to blush, rubbing his neck with a hand.

"You're welcome!" The two said in sync, although Dipper sounded more shy than enthusiastic. (Y/n) noticed this and stepped forward to place a hand on the teen boy's hat, patting him twice with a laugh. Mabel grinned at her brother, making sure to remember to poke fun at him later, then looking at her grunkle with sparkling eyes.

"Grunkle Ford, here! This is the only one in your size, but I'm sure (Y/n) wouldn't mind!" The girl whispered the last part to him, laughing as the man blushed. She pushed the light pink apron into his hands and rushed away to the woman, who had already secured her apron on and was tying a homemade apron to Waddles, who squealed happily.

Ford slipped the loop of the apron over his head with a sigh, somehow knowing Mabel had probably hid the rest that fit him so he wouldn't have any other choice. He thought the apron wasn't really necessary for him, since he knew he wouldn't be helping much, but if the kids were happy, he was happy.

"Here, let me get that." A feminine voice sounded behind him, making him jump slightly but soon relax again when he recognized the voice as (Y/n)'s. Ford had been fiddling with the strings behind his back for a minute or two, no doubt because he was lost in his thoughts. He was sure he could tie the apron after a few tries if he focused, but he didn't mention that.

"Hehe, you look cute in pink." The woman teased behind him as she slowly tied the thin apron strings together. Ford had no doubt that she could tie it in a mere few seconds, considering how fast she had done hers, but he definitely wasn't going to complain about her warm breath on his neck sending shivers down his spine, or her warm hands occasionally brushing against his back, making his knees weak.

Instead, he decided to play along, letting out a chuckle as he turned his head to look at the woman, who was smiling.

"Do I? I must say, you look far better in your apron. Like a charming housewife." He found himself saying with a mildly flirtatious grin. (Y/n) blushed, but giggled as she finished tying a bow.

"Why, thank you." She said, hands not leaving Ford as they laughed. Suddenly, a camera flash interrupted them, and the two looked over to see Mabel grinning, Polaroid camera in hand and pointed at them.

The adults blushed fiercely, and the woman took her hands off of Ford, smiling shyly as she back away from the man, who placed an arm behind his back and a fist on his chest as he cleared his throat. Mabel took another picture of the two, then pulled the printing photo from the outdated device before another appeared.

"Scrapbook-urtunity!" Mabel shouted, waving the two photos in the air as they developed. (Y/n) giggled again, patting Ford's shoulder as she passed him and making her way towards the pantry.

"Geez, Mabel, a warning would've been fine! Anyways, what should we all make for dinner?" The woman said playfully, opening the door near the counters to reveal a moderate stock of food. She whistled lowly, turning to the Pines family. "Any suggestions?"

Mabel raised a hand, starting to jump up and down.

"Ooh, ooh! (Y/n), let's make fancy food!" Mabel suggested, and Dipper sighed, making his sister look over to him.

"Mabel, we don't have the ingredients." Dipper said somewhat bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest. When he saw that his sister frowned and started to get discouraged, he quickly attempted to make her feel better. "B-But I guess we can try to make a classy meal? I mean, we don't have much, but we can make, uh, steak, maybe? Right?"

He looked desperately at the woman who was now peering into the top of the fridge, rummaging around a bit before closing the freezer door and opening up the refrigerator. Her eyes lit up, and she pulled out a packaged piece of steak.

"Nice! Looks like we'll be able to make a pretty good meal!" She exclaimed, examining the different cuts of meat that had been thoroughly thawed out, but kept cold.

"Ah, I was wondering what I'd forgotten when we left to the Shack this morning." Ford stated, moving towards the woman and kneeling down next to her. He pulled out a packaged filet mignon, bringing another hand up to his chin. "I placed these in the fridge to defrost last night, but didn't remember to cook them when I woke up. They should should still be fine to eat, I suppose."

"Of course they are! The fridge is at its coolest temperature, after all, and they haven't been in there too long." (Y/n) smiled at him, and he had to bring his hand down from his face to to the floor to steady himself. He had nearly fallen over, and he mentally berated himself for falling so hard for this woman to the point where a simple smile threatened to sweep him off his feet.

"There are a lot of vegetables, too!" She exclaimed after opening a drawer of chilled greens. "I also saw some potatoes in the pantry, and the gravy mix is pretty high quality! What do you think, team?"

The ecstatic woman turned her head to look at everyone with a wide grin. The kids agreed, even cheering a little, and Ford stood up with a smile and a nod. He supposed he could help with the simpler steps of preparing dinner.

Nearly half an hour later, hands were washed, pots and pans were out, and everything was prepared to be cooked. (Y/n) was multitasking, both cooking and directing the kids what to do, occasionally reminding them to be cautious when working with the stove, and Ford mainly supervised, every once in a while passing supplies and mixing things when the three were all busy.

"Careful with the vegetables, Mabel, the steam is really hot. Dipper, make sure you only touch the plastic part of the lid so you don't burn yourself. Stanford, the potatoes won't jump up and bite you, just add the butter and start smashing them, please." The woman said to the three Pines, flipping over a steak in the pan before her. She let them cook in their own juices, sizzling and popping in the oil they were in.

"Waddles, sweetie, please don't chew on that." She scolded the pig, kneeling down to gently pull a plastic bag from his mouth. He resisted at first, pulling back, but once the woman had gently stroked his snout a few times, Waddles seemed to relax and let go of the bag with an oink.

"No offense, (Y/n), but I've been to other dimensions. I'm sure I can handle making mashed pota-ow!" Ford jumped, waving his left hand in the air. He had accidentally touched the hot part of the pot while going to grab the handle. He blushed in slight embarrassment as his crush sighed, but smiled gently at him as she stood.

"What was that, Mister 'I'm-a-dimension-hopping-genius-who-can-totally-smash-potatoes'?" She giggled slightly, putting down her metal tongs and walking over to the man, disposing of the plastic and wiping her hands on her apron.

"That's quite a stretch." Ford mumbled, wincing as she took his burnt fingers in her hand and observed it carefully, gently rubbing the sides of each finger to comfort the man.

"Hm. You're lucky you only hurt your fingertips, but we'll have to put some ointment on them, just in case. Mabel, sweetie, do you mind finding a first-aid kit for your uncle?" She smiled at Mabel, who nodded with a smile of her own and took off her oven mitts she used to transfer the steamed veggies into a large bowl.

"Yes, ma'am! Hang in there, Grunkle Ford!" The teen said, waving as she ran off to one of the restrooms to find the medical box they had in a cabinet somewhere.

"Go run your fingers under some cold water now, she should be back soon." (Y/n) said, patting the back of the man's hand before going back to the stove and flipping over another piece of steak, making sure to turn off the part of the stovetop that had the pot of finished vegetables on it.

"You aren't that experienced at cooking, are you, Grunkle Ford?" Dipper asked, mixing the gravy in a small saucepan. Ford turned on the sink faucet, sticking his fingers under the rushing water as it adjusted to its coldest setting.

"Here? No. During my time in the portal, however, I was a master chef compared to everyone else there. Mainly because there was no one else there, but I'd say it still counts. I lived off of edible plants, most of which didn't exist, and the nontoxic flesh of the creatures residing there. Fire-roasted meat is usually food I tend to stay away from, nowadays." He said casually.

"Sounds like an adventure." (Y/n) commented, plating a few pieces of steak before putting some raw ones on the pan with loud sizzles. Ford opened his mouth to reply, but someone came bursting through the door, cutting him off before he could even speak.

"Grunkle Ford, I got you the med kit!" Mabel shouted, almost skidding to a stop next to him, a proud look on her face as she held up the white, plastic container. (Y/n) walked over as Ford took the box from the teen's hands with a "thank you," the woman patting Mabel's head.

"Thank you, dear. You can finish transferring those veggies to a bowl, then just set them on the counter when you're done, okay?" She said with a grateful smile, making the young girl beam and nod her head, rushing to put on her mittens again and finish her job. Ford set the first-aid kit down next to the sink, and his partner opened it up.

She looked through it carefully, eyes roaming over the contents of the box, and Ford took the time to study her. Time seemed to slow as he observed all her facial features, amazed at how aging only made her even more beautiful. For someone pushing sixty years old, she looked absolutely gorgeous, stunning, even.

He noticed her eyes never dimmed, always sparkling with amusement and optimism. He watched as she breathed out, one of her hands reaching up when a small lock of silky smooth hair fell into her line of vision. Her delicate fingers moved the hair away from her face and behind an ear. Oh, how he'd love to feel her fingers intertwine with his again, to experience the comfort and contentment he'd felt when he realized that her hand fit perfectly in his...

"Oh, there it is!" Her happy voice almost made Ford sigh and sink deeper into his thoughts, but then he realized she looked at him and tried his damned hardest not to let his knees give out, nonchalantly leaning onto the edge of the sink in front of him. "Here you go, open this. It should help prevent scarring and heal you faster."

The lovestruck man was handed a small tube of ointment, and he took his hand out from under the cool tap water to grasp it, twisting the cap open and peeling off the plastic seal with his other hand. He set the cap and seal down to transfer the tube into his right hand. Just as he was about to squeeze the ointment into his fingertips, a hand took his wet left hand and dabbed the water away with a dry washcloth from the drawer near the sink.

"Hold on, your hand needs to be dry before you do anything to it." (Y/n) said, and Ford blushed at the gentleness and care the woman gave him.

"O-Oh, uh, okay." He thought about telling her he could dry his hand himself, but came to the conclusion that he was more than happy to have her hold his hand in hers. All too soon, his hand was dry, and he felt it going slightly cool without his crush's warmth as the woman set the rag down to turn off the tap.

"Alright, go ahead and use that now. I need to check on the steaks." She smiled, daring to place a kiss on Ford's left ring finger before rushing off to flip over the few slabs of meat cooking in the aluminum pan. Ford flushed deeply, staring at his hand. It seemed that the woman had never gotten over her fascination with his twelve fingers.

Another half hour later, and all the food was plated and ready to serve. The twins had set the table in the dining room and (Y/n) was washing the pots and pans and utensils used to prepare the delicious-looking food. The woman had cooked a small bit of steak that had fallen off one of the pieces and let the Pines and herself eat it as a sample. They were all excited to eat more.

"Stanford, be a dear and fetch the guys downstairs, please." (Y/n) asked him politely, receiving a nod in return as the man headed out of the kitchen to persuade his brother and McGucket to eat upstairs rather than alone in the basement.

"(Y/n), you totally have the hots for Grunkle Ford!" Mabel whisper-yelled when the kitchen door had swung closed. The woman blushed slightly and Mabel stood on her tiptoes to poke at one of the woman's pink cheeks. "See?!"

Dipper called his sister's name and gently tapped her arm to get her to stop touching the flustered female, who laughed at them awkwardly while continuing to scrub the last of the spatulas.

"Mabel, please." Dipper scolded lightly before looking up at (Y/n). "She's right, though. You were pretty bold earlier, tying his apron for him, wiping his hand, and kissing his finger. It's like you two are a couple or something."

The woman was silent for a moment as she finished up, drying her hands on her apron before tugging the strings behind her and letting it come loose. Everyone else had taken their aprons off as soon as the food was ready, but she had left hers on since she was washing the dishes.

"I... Yeah, I do. Kind of stupid, isn't it?" The woman sighed, a sad smile on her face rather than her usual, bright one. "He'd never like me back. I'm sure he has more important things to worry about than a relationship, and after all, I guess I do, too. Can't be helped, though. I like that old man far too much, don't I?"

The twins looked at each other with slightly sad looks. Soon, their moods shot up, both teens having the same idea at the same time. Of course, only Dipper knew for sure it would work out in the end, but before he could speak up about Ford's mutual feelings, his two great uncles and their friend came in through the door. He mentally cursed. He'd have to tell Mabel later...

"There you three are!" (Y/n)'s expression changing immediately, slipping off her apron and laying it over the sink, mentally noting that she'd have to put it in the wash later.

"Y-You must be (Y/n)!" McGucket rushed forward taking her hand in his and shaking it a few times. "My, I may not remember ya all that much, but I sure do recall you bein' quite the heartbreaker back then! I see why!"

The woman beamed at the compliment as the man let go of her hand.

"Oh, thank you! You were a smart man back in college, and that hasn't changed! All that engineering business paid off, huh, Fiddleford?" She said, patting the short man's shoulder. "It's nice to finally meet you again, old friend."

"Same goes for me!" McGucket grinned, laughing a bit, then exclaiming and hobbling through the opened, second kitchen door, which led to the dining room. "Hoo-wee! Did y'all make this food?"

"We helped!" Mabel and Dipper smiled, leading everyone else to the table.

"Look at all this grub! You four didn't make a meal, you made a feast!" Stan exclaimed, sitting himself down in one of the chairs and eyeing the food on the table.

"I hope you all like it." (Y/n) said, sitting next to Ford, who sat next to his brother. McGucket sat at the head of the table, and the younger twins sat across from their grunkles, Mabel across from Stan and Dipper across from Ford.

Stan had already slid a random steak onto his plate, cutting off a piece and chewing it. Everyone else was still putting food on their plates, asking each other to pass down the plates and bowls as they went.

"Geez, that's the darn best steak I've ever eaten!" Stanley exclaimed, hungrily placing another large chunk of meat into his mouth. Ford sighed in more of aggravation.

"Stanley, please, don't speak with your mouth full. And don't just eat the steak, there's a lot of food we took time to prepare." His twin scolded, pouring some gravy on his mashed potatoes and handing the gravy boat to Mabel, who grinned and ignored her brother's scoldings when she poured most of the gravy over her food.

"Please, take as much as you like. We might've made too much." (Y/n) smiled, placing a reasonable-sized piece of steak into her mouth and chewing quietly before swallowing. "Ford, you're cutting your steak into pieces far too big to fit in your mouth."

"Right." The male replied, paying more attention to his food, as he had been staring at the woman sitting next to him out of the corner of his eye. Of course, his twin noticed.

"Heh." Said Stanley quietly, curling up a corner of his lips at Ford as he chewed on his food. Ford half-heartedly glared at him before huffing quietly and stuffing some potatoes into his mouth.

"(Y/n), can Waddles eat steak?" Mabel asked, looking down at her pig who sat obediently at her side, between her and Dipper. The woman shook her head with a grin.

"Sorry, sweetie, but no. You can feed him some vegetables, though." She said kindly, and Mabel nodded, passing a piece of broccoli to Waddles with a giggle.

"So, where'd you learn to cook, (Y/n)?" Dipper asked, nibbling on a small slice of carrot. The woman took a sip of ice water the teens had poured into a few glasses while setting the table. She smiled at the boy as she put her glass down.

"Oh, where haven't I learned to cook? When I travel, I rarely ever set foot into a hotel. When I have, it wasn't to order food or anything. I've met a lot of other people around the world who taught me how to make all sorts of food." She explained.

"And what made you come to Gravity Falls? No one's gonna give you cooking lessons here, y'know." Stan said with his mouth full, earning a soft hit on the arm by Ford.

"The same reason Ford did all that time ago. To study it! This is a really fascinating area! I might have to keep a journal or two, I haven't decided yet." She shrugged, eating some more food.

Everyone else glanced at each other. No one else had told her about the way Ford's journals were destroyed. Ford had only mentioned how he'd "lost" all of his research during their reunion in the diner, and the woman had disregarded it. They all shared the same relief when they remembered Bill was gone. Dead. She wouldn't make the same mistakes Ford had. No one would.

"Can I help?" Dipper asked, and the woman nodded, pointing to Stan and Ford with her spoon.

"Just as long as it's alright with your grunkles." She said. Mabel leaned forward.

"Can I help, too?" The young girl asked, looking at the three adults. The teens earned an approving grunt and nod from the two men and high-fived, making (Y/n) grin at them. The woman knew full well Ford had threatened to ground the teens, but she didn't dare to bring it up. She thought it would be delightful to have them guiding her through the woods they undoubtedly explored often.

"Yeah yeah, just be safe or whatever." Stan said dismissively, this time without any food in his mouth. Ford agreed, pleased his brother had an ounce of etiquette in him. The two trusted the woman to take care of the kids, and everyone was glad.

"Pardon, but may I have more o' that gravy?" McGucket asked, pointing to one of the near-empty gravy boats closest to him.

"Of course, Fidds." Ford replied, handing the porcelain container to the man.

From then on, every one chatted with each other about random things. Mabel's new summer crushes so far, the places Stan and Ford had traveled to, when (Y/n) would be able to meet the teens' friends in Gravity Falls. For the first time in a long time, the Pines family was enjoying dinner with a few close friends.

For the first time in a long time, (Y/n) was finally content.

As the woman took another bite of her delicious dinner and looked around the table to watch everyone happily talking to each other, she wondered how long it would last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk where this chapter went, but I guess it's a good enough update to get where I want to be... Sorry I took so long so long to update! My fam is going on vacation tomorrow and I tried my best to get this chapter out before we go. I might not be able to take my phone with me, and my Kindle is for sure staying home bc my mom's bf said so. Anyways, I really hope this chapter is good enough for you all! Again, sorry for the late things. Thank you all so much for sticking with this story! Over 6,000 words in this chapter!


	4. Goodnight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote 2-3,000 words and then my Kindle fucked up and I didn't copy and save it or anything and it's been so long and I'm sorry, fuck

"Thank you again for the dinner, (Y/n)." Ford said to the woman walking beside him, his hands clasped behind his back. Fiddleford, who was walking in front of the pair, looked over his shoulder with a grin.

"Yep! That steak was mighty fine, a welcome change from the other types of meat I've eaten!" The short man laughed, and (Y/n) and Ford laughed as well, although they sounded a bit confused and bothered. Deciding not to push it, the woman spoke casually.

"I'm really glad you all liked it. I haven't cooked a meal like that in a while. It's been a year or two since I've taken charge of a kitchen. Thank you for the help, Stanford." The man smiled, cheeks coloring just a little. "Fidds, I really appreciate you letting me stay in your home."

"Oh, it's no problem, (Y/n)! Even with the Pines family here, the mansion has plenty o' room for more! Speakin' of rooms..." McGucket stopped at a fancy door no different from the others in the hallway, twisting the golden-colored doorknob and revealing the bedroom inside. He gestured for his friends to enter after reaching a skinny arm in to flip a light switch that took a few moments of searching to find.

There was a large canopy bed with its massive mahogany headboard pushed up against the center of the wall across from the door. There were two bedside tables on either side, each one with identical lamps set on top of them. A wooden chest was at the foot of the bed, a soft-looking cushion on top of it.

A dresser was across from the bed, a large, elegant mirror hanging above it. Picture frames hung on the walls, professional shots of breathtaking scenery inside them. The floor was carpeted anyone could tell it was very soft, even with their shoes on. (Y/n) spotted a sliding, wooden door and decided to open it.

The carpet became tile as she slid open the door. She admired the clean bathroom, taking in the sparkling shower, jetted tub, and pristine sink. Heck, even the toilet was far beyond any she'd seen before.

"There's a medicine cabinet over the sink." Fiddleford informed, looking around the room. "Behind the mirror, I mean. Took me a week or two to figure it out!"

The woman laughed softly, carefully hooking her fingers beneath the spotless mirror and pulling back, revealing a small pack of bandages and unwrapped personal hygiene products. Things like toothbrushes and toothpastes and dental floss were laid on different shelves. She closed the cabinet and edited the bathroom.

"This room is incredible!" She threw her arms wide open to emphasize her amazement, and the two males grinned at her. (Y/n) kept walking forward, allowing herself to fall face-first onto the bed with a relaxed sigh just beside Ford, who had taken a seat near one of the bed posts. McGucket made his way to the door of the room.

"Welp, you two best be off to bed soon! 'S been a long day for y'all, I take it. I'll be in the basement if ya need me, alright?" Ford nodded, his partner making a muffled sound before raising a hand to give the other man a thumbs-up. "Okay then! Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta make sure my thing-a-ma-jig hasn't blown into smithereens downstairs! Have a nice night!"

And then the engineer had quickly ducked out of the room, obviously in a hurry to check on... whatever was down in that lab of his. In his haste, he hadn't bothered to shut the door all the way, leaving it cracked open. Stanford decided that he'd much rather stay seated on the soft mattress than get up to shut the door properly.

Instead, he kicked off his boots and leaned back on his hands. The man looked down in amusement at his crush, who had yet to bring her face up from the sheets.

"Comfy?" He asked, chuckling. (Y/n) sighed again into the many blankets and comforters, and Ford laughed, which she joined him in. The woman flipped herself over so she laid on her back, hands on either side of her. Ford found himself staring at the closed-eyed beauty in admiration.

His gaze trailed from the hair splayed around her head like a halo, to the closed lids of her gorgeous eyes, to those alluring lips slightly curled up into a calm grin he dared to wish he could feel with his own. He was very soon startled out of his thoughts as a soft hand lightly tapped his wrist.

The genius got the message, bringing his arms from under him so he could lay down next to his partner. They spent a few moments there, laying next to each other as Ford clasped his six-fingered hands together on his stomach. When Ford built up the courage to, he let one hand gently rest on (Y/n)'s.

Almost immediately, after the initial shock had passed, the woman shifted to lay on her side so she was facing her partner with a loving smile. Ford turned his head towards her, face burning red at her expression. He soon moved to lay on his side as well, staring deep into her caring eyes.

The two lay there, staring at each other intently, as if this was the first and last time they'd ever see each other. The soothing sensation of the woman's fingers between Ford's sent chills down their spines and warmth through their chests and stomachs.

They admired each other in total and utter silence, reminded of old times.

\----

_"Knock, knock!" A cheery but muffled feminine voice rang out, accompanied by two knocks on the other side of the entrance to two certain male students' dormitory. Stanford felt an excited grin grow on his face as he set his pen down and exited his bedroom without his shoes, patting down his hair and dusting off his clothes a few times. He came to his dorm's front door and let out a silent breath. He opened the door._

_"Good afternoon, Stanford!" (Y/n) said happily when the male came into view. He nodded, pleased to see that her smile was just as wide as his, if not, wider._

_"And to you, (Y/n). Come in!" He stepped aside, holding the door open for her and closing it when she entered. The woman thanked him and he followed her to the dorm's kitchenette. It wasn't the biggest place to store and prepare food, but there was still a significant amount of empty space left in the fridge, which Ford also opened for his friend, seeing as her arms were occupied._

_The man furrowed his brows, holding the refrigerator door open with his foot as he took most of (Y/n)'s goods out of her hands. How did she knock if her hands weren't available? The woman giggled softly, as if reading Ford's thoughts._

_"I used my elbows." She said simply, sliding a few food containers into the fridge. Ford nodded in understanding, letting the woman move a few take out boxes and bags to make room for her food containers. She took the small pile of candy bars from Ford and placed them in a small drawer. She took her homemade cake from him also, gently sliding it onto an empty shelf._

_"Dinner?" Ford asked as she moved out of the way, the two eyeing the collection of food in the fridge. The woman wiped her hands on her jeans, nodding as Ford closed the fridge door._

_"Mhmm! And desert. Made sure to bring a lot of snacks until Fidds comes, then we can take a break from our little party we've got going on in a bit." She said, patting her leather bookbag she had slung around her shoulders. Ford chuckled. He always looked forward to eating dinner with his two best friends. This wasn't the first time he and (Y/n) had met up, and it definitely wouldn't be the last._

_"If by 'party,' you mean 'private five and a half hour study session,' then let's get this party started, shall we?" He said, making his friend laugh. His smile became a bit more lovestruck. He loved her laugh, especially when he'd been the one to cause it._

_This was their thing now. It was the school year after he had met (Y/n) and introduced her to McGucket, who was his roommate. They'd arrange a meeting time, she'd show up with her mouthwatering food, they'd study, then end the night with a group dinner and a movie or something._

_(Y/n)'s arrival in the males' lives had a very positive impact on each of them. Before she came, Fiddleford had worked a stressful and tiring job as an intern. He worked long hours and had to go overtime very often. Only after he'd endured many long bus rides would he come home to a passed out Ford and a cool bowl of ramen in the microwave._

_When (Y/n) had heard this, she'd immediately ushered him out of that job and into an open spot at her workplace, a calm café where everyone, including the coworkers and customers, were polite and easygoing. Fiddleford greatly appreciated the total one-eighty environment, and the woman was glad she could stop working double shifts, as the establishment had very few workers._

_"You better hold on to her." McGucket had told Stanford after coming back from his first shift at the café. Ford had also benefited greatly. Before his crush, when his only friend was employed and he himself wasn't, he had been very lonely for an unhealthy amount of time. Many nights he'd studied on his own. No one to talk to, no one to break the uncomfortable silence of the dorm._

_When she came, that all changed. She and Fiddleford were away for less hours at a time, and they rarely had any shifts together, so at least one of them was almost always there to keep Ford company. McGucket's daily fatigue had worn off after a while, leaving him much more upbeat and relaxed. (Y/n) had more time to herself and her social life, growing a stronger bond with each of her friends with a lot of stress off her shoulders._

_On the rare occasion the woman and engineer would be at work at the same time, Stanford would tag along with them, as the café was only a ten to fifteen minute walk from Backupsmore. With the welcome change to the three's daily lives, (Y/n) was very quickly accepted into the males' friend group._

_They owed a lot to her, yet she still felt kind enough to keep giving and supporting, never asking for anything in return other than the occasional help on an assignment of some sort, which her two closest friends were more than happy to supply._

_Maybe it was her perseverance. Maybe it was her kind nature. Maybe it was the fact that she had become such a trustworthy friend so quickly. Maybe it was her ability to bring smiles to people's faces and laughs into dull environments. Maybe it was her intelligence, or her quirkiness._

_Whatever it was, it had caused Stanford Pines to feel his small crush quickly turn into something much, much larger. Whatever it was, it had caused this man to fall head-over-heels in love with this extraordinary woman._

_"We shall!" Ford blinked, a bit dazed after being abruptly pulled out of his jumbled mind. The woman in front of him shot him a pleasant smile as she took hold of his hand, turning and leading him across the small dorm and into his bedroom. There, she let go of him and flopped onto his mattress with a content sigh after she'd practically thrown her bookbag and shoes to the ground._

_The man looked down at the hand she'd held. It felt... warm. Tingly, even. But at the same time, there was a coolness that had taken over it when (Y/n) released him. He started blushing furiously and turned away as the woman grinned at nothing._

_Ford picked up the sad bookbag that lay on the carpeted floor and hung it on his desk chair, which was just a metal folding chair from the living room of the dorm. When he and Fiddleford had first moved in, he had immediately brought it into his room, which no one objected to. It was surprisingly comfortable with the amount of padding on it, but Ford's butt would often turn numb on the long nights that he'd been too busy with his work to stand up for anything other than a short, quick, bathroom break._

_He grabbed his wooden desk by its sides and slowly picked it up, walking backwards towards his bed. It was surprisingly light, even with the lamp and textbooks scattered across the few shelves. (Y/n) lifted her socked feet onto the bed so Ford wouldn't have a hard time getting the desk into place without hurting her._

_"Ah, geez... How much time has passed since I've been in your room? Weeks? Months?" The woman asked, shifting a little to get comfier. The male's head swindled over his shoulder to look at her as he replied, but snapped his gaze back to the desk once he'd seen that her shirt had risen up by a few centimeters. He gulped._

_"Days." He barely managed to say in a playful tone. His friend laughed, and it took all of his willpower not to turn around to look at her, as he longed to see that large smile on her face but didn't want her to notice his red features._

_"Wow," the woman giggled. "It feels like it's been forever, doesn't it?"_

_Ford hummed in agreement, desperately trying to stay focused of moving the desk perfectly into the little indents in the carpet left by many study sessions in the past. A little to the left... Okay, now up... No, that's too far up. Is that an indent line or a strand of hair? Eh, maybe a little to the right..._

_"Gosh, I love your bed. I'd love to spend a night in it sometime." The male froze. He slowly turned to look behind him, face reddening even more. The female on his bed didn't seem to notice how suggestive her statement was, innocent grin never leaving her face. She had her hands tucked behind her head, looking completely and utterly casual._

_Ford squinted his eyes. He felt like he was being manipulated somehow. No, not manipulated. Tricked? Played? Teased?_

_His eyes widened again, and he looked back down at his notes and books littering his work space. Was he being teased?_

_"Uh... I'm pretty sure all the dorms have the same furniture. Wouldn't your mattress be the same?" He said slowly, cringing at himself immediately afterwards. 'Seriously, Stanford? That's your response?'_

_"Yeah, but I mean, yours is in a better place than mine is. God, I know you haven't visited my dorm room, Stanford, and there's a good reason. It's a mess! My roommate is a total slob! Like, how does she get the place so freakin' disgusting while she's out partying half the time? It's the biggest mystery I've yet to solve!"_

_The male had finally adjusted the desk just the right amount, now turning towards his friend, who had sat up and crossed her legs. Ford was partially relieved and partially disappointed that the reason why his friend liked his bed so much was because of the much calmer environment it was in compared to her own._

_He found it both amusing and endearing that the woman used her arms to exaggerate her agitated mood._

_"Plates piling in the dishwasher, trash cans overflowing with stuff no one wants to see, toilets and sinks stained with vomit and alcohol, floor absolutely littered with assignments due months ago, hell, there's mold growing in the corner of our kitchen sink no matter what I do! Has mold ever grown on aluminum before?!"_

_(Y/n) shot her friend a wide-eyed look, and he gave her a small nod, which made made her tilt her head back and groan. Ford found the action the slightest bit enticing, but luckily, the female had continued._

_"Our chairs are sticky, there's gross, chewed up gum on the bottom of literally every surface--there's gum on the ceiling, Ford! What's with that? Not to mention her godawful electronic 'music' playing nearly twenty-four seven! I cannot tell you how many times I've gone into her room to tell her to shut it off after curfew, only to figure out that she's either not even home or fooling around with some guy! And it's a different one every time!"_

_Yes, it was no secret that the woman had ended up with who just about everyone agreed was the worst roommate on campus. The two girls had been left behind, as all their other friends had either paired up together or lived off-campus._

_(Y/n) had told Fidds and Ford how everyone who knew her roommate had left her with absolutely no advice whatsoever, only a pitiful smile, the occasional pat on the back or shoulder, and a "good luck." They all had felt bad for her, but gave (Y/n) no support at all._

_"If only they'd let us sleep over somewhere else. No one can take me in, though, and I can't afford to rent a place." The girl sighed, calming down. She took one of Ford's pillows from beside her, hugging it close to her chest. The male himself sat cross-legged next to her after pulling his chair closer to access her bag easier._

_Backupsmore allowed students to mingle between dorm buildings until curfew, which was set at ten PM sharp. Any students who lived in a dorm and were out last that time were forced to spend the night off campus. Any student caught in the opposite gender's dorm building had detention the next day, as well dorm cleaning, which was when they spent the next day in that dorm with the janitor to clean the community bathrooms and lounges in the building._

_No one particularly enjoyed this punishment, especially with the creepy janitor breathing down their necks as they scrubbed toilets, so there were rarely any rule-breakers. If they were, they were never caught or ratted out, since snitches weren't too welcome within the student body._

_Poor freshman nobody had to learn that the hard way. He was prayed for by many for his naivety._

_"Sometimes I wish I was a guy so I could stay closer to you guys. Imagine all the work we'd be able to get done and the fun we'd have!" (Y/n) exclaimed, leaning back slightly and grinning up at the ceiling, as if she was thinking about all the glorious possibilities there'd be if she was male. Ford spaced out._

_"If you were a guy, I'd be gay." He thought. At least, he thought he thought. I mean, he thought he silently thought this to himself, but he didn't. He mumbled it out loud. Because he's a dork. Yeah. Sorry, bad writing._

_"Hmm?" His friend hummed in question, looking at the male. She leaned toward him, making him panic and lean back, flustered._

_"U-Uh, erm, I-I said, uh-" Ford was quickly cut off by his friend's laughter._

_"Geez, Stanford, you don't have to answer if you don't want to! It was just a curious question." Her laughs died down and she smiled kindly at the male. Ford's heart skipped a beat._

_It took a while before the two actually started to study._

\----

Ford sighed. It had been such a long time since then. It was hard to believe that a genius such as himself had held onto his affection for her for so long, whether it was conscious or not. He voiced his next thoughts out loud.

"I'm so lucky to get to spend time with you again." He whispered, and (Y/n) immediately agreed, giggling softly.

"Me, too. It's been so long. We've... grown up." She responded quietly, looking deep into the warmth swirling in her partner's eyes.

"We have." Ford nodded, bringing his free hand up to the woman's face. She closed her eyes as his gentle hands swept away quickly few strands of hair that had fallen in front of her vision. He didn't bring his hand back down, though, only moving to rest it lightly on her cheek.

Her eyes fluttered open and she laid her free hand over his. They gazed at each other with so much love and care, they could almost swear they heard the other's heart beating rhythmically. The pair lay there in silence, staring at each other so intently it was as if this was their first and last chance to be alone together.

This moment was incredible. It was beautifully, magnificently, breathtakingly incredible. This moment was glorious. This moment was--

"HEYO!"

\--interrupted.

Stanley Pines burst throughout the partially opened door, a wide, shit-eating grin on his face. His hands that were above his head moved to sit on his hips, paying no mind to how badly he must've scared the couple lying together on the bed.

In fact, Ford was startled so much that he had jumped back from (Y/n), their grips loosening when he let out a strangled shriek. The distressed male's back hit the bed post closest to him and he found himself falling head-first into the cushioned chest before comically sliding off.

Stanley bellowed in laughter, crouching slightly and pointing a finger at his shocked brother. (Y/n) giggled as well, but quickly came to Ford's aid.

"Hey down there." She greeted the male, looking down at him from between his socked feet, which pointed towards the ceiling. "Need any help?"

"That... would be very much appreciated." The male grunted, gratefully grabbing his partner's outstretched hand after she'd moved off the bed to stand beside him. He grunted out a thank you as he was pulled up, ignoring his twins obnoxious laughter in the background.

"You're very welcome." The woman said curtly, reaching up to adjust Ford's askew glasses as he dusted himself off and patted down his unruly hair. Stanley stumbled over to them, his laughs not dying down nearly as much as Ford would have liked.

"Oh-Oh man, sixer! Y-You--ahaha! You should've seen your face!" Stan wiped a tear from his left eye, his hand on Ford's shoulder, much to Ford's displeasure. "Ohoho, and-and that scream! Oh geez, freak-freakin' GOLD!"

"Alright, Stanley--" (Y/n) tried to cut him off, but the man continued.

"Haha! Oh wow. Just- You totally fell for her! HAHA, GET IT?! 'Cuz, like, you two are in love?! PRICELESS!" He laughed, and the other two adults froze. (Y/n) didn't turn around to look at Ford, and Ford didn't want her to. This didn't need to get more awkward than it already was, what with an old man laughing his ass off after another old man fell and couldn't get up.

"Right, okay. Uh, Stanley, did you need anything?" The woman spoke up, this time effectively getting Stan to quiet down. She didn't want him to wake up the kids, assuming they'd already gone to sleep or at least went up earlier.

"Ah, no. I just-hehe. Just came by to see how you were settling in. I see Poindexter's got that covered, though." He wiggled his eyebrows at his brother, who groaned and held his red face in one of his hands. (Y/n) laughed awkwardly. "Hehe. Welp, I'm goin' to bed! Sorry for the interruption, g'night!"

The man slipped out of the room, still chuckling to himself. His apology wasn't even half-assed. It was totally fake, even a deaf man could hear that. Ford sighed and his friend turned to look at him.

"Well... I should be getting to bed now." Ford tried to grin at her casually.

"'Bed,' meaning 'lab,' right?" (Y/n) giggled at him as she walked him to the now fully open door. Ford nodded almost sheepishly, and the two laughed.

"Alrighty. It's been a long day, don't go pulling an all-nighter, now." The woman advised, leaning against her doorframe when the man stepped outside.

"No promises." He smiled, and (Y/n) giggled again. The two stared at each other for a few comfortable moments after she'd stopped, savoring every detail of each other's appearances. Ford's fluffy, graying hair, (Y/n)'s amused eyes.

"Goodnight, Ford." She said softly, standing up straight and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Goodnight, (Y/n)." The male replied, holding her close to him by her waist. It took a short while for the two to break the embrace, faces pink and content.

God, they were so in love, it was almost frustrating. Almost.

Soon, Ford had gone on his way to the staircase to meet Fiddleford in the basement laboratory. (Y/n) didn't close her door until after he was out of sight.

\----

"What?!"

"I know, right? It's crazy!"

"Eek, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Dipper, do you know what this means?"

"You bet I do!"

"Matchmaking!" "We might get a grauntie!"

"..."

"Uh..."

"That, too."

"Yeah."

"So should we just let them work it out on their own, or...?"

"Of course not!"

"Then..."

"Time to call... backup."

"..."

"That didn't really work, did it?"

"No, no it didn't."

"BACKUP!" "BACKUP!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOO-WEE HOW DO YA DO?? Okay, so this chapter is weird and late and urgHh, I know, but listen, just listen to me--
> 
> WE GON HAVE A PARTY NEXT CHAPTER *KNEE SLAP* HOT DIGGITY DAMN, AMIRITE? IM TALKIN AXES, CANDY, MILKSHAKES, FRIGGIN TOFFEE PEANUTS FOR GOOD GOSH GEE-WHIZZ'S SAKE! BUCKLE UP Y'ALL, NEXT ONES GONNA BE A WILD RIDE SURE TO KNOCK YOUR PANTS OFF!
> 
> I meant to type "socks" but tHAT'S GREAT TOO HOO-WEE THANKS FOR RIGGITY RIGGITY READIN, DAWGS!
> 
> Kill me, like actually fucking kill m


	5. Step One (I'm so sorry)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be sure to read the end notes before commenting about how short this is, I'm so sorry

(Y/n) was peacefully asleep. The sun was shining through her bedroom window, casting warm, glowing rays of sunlight into the room. Her soft, relaxed breaths caused her chest to rise and fall evenly beneath the thick comforter that lay over her body up to her shoulders.

"HONK HONK!"

"OH MY-- EEK!" The woman was startled awake, jumping up and falling over in her attempts to distance herself from the loud voice and airhorn that disrupted her from her sleep. She fell off the bed, grunting when her back made contact with the hard, carpeted floor.

She suddenly felt the need to apologize to Stanford, now having gone through the same shock and confusion that he had.

"(Y/n)! Are you awake?" A young, feminine voice reached the woman's ears. She groaned and blinked in pain, her sight soon coming into focus and allowing her to see the grinning brunette staring down at her limp form.

"Mabel! I told you not to wake her up like that!" Another voice scolded the female teen. The older woman shifted her gaze to look up at the figure rushing towards her. The figure kneeled next to her, but she had to blink again before she could recognize their face.

"How could I not? It's way easier than your method of staring at her sleep for five minutes and then gently shaking her awake." Mabel teased, sitting cross-legged on the bed. A mini airhorn was held in one of her hands.

"I-I don't--! Urgh, whatever, let's just make sure she's okay?" Dipper replied, looking down at the woman, who gave a small smile in response.

"It's fine. Didn't hurt myself too bad." She chuckled slightly, but didn't hesitate in taking the teenage boy's hand to help herself stand up. Before Dipper could ask if she was sure, Mabel hopped off the bed and looked up at (Y/n) with a wide grin.

"We made some breakfast for you! Grunkle Ford and McGucket are still in the basement, but you can go see them after you eat if you want!" She offered, leading the somewhat confused woman into the bathroom.

"Uh, okay." She replied dumbly before the wooden door slid closed. Mabel and Dipper high-fived each other quietly before exiting the room together, not forgetting to close the door behind them.

A short while later, (Y/n) came out of the bathroom. Steam rolled out into the carpet and she shivered slightly, adjusting the thermostat. The room grew warmer and she sighed, drying her hair out with the towel that wasn't wrapped around her body.

The woman got dressed and brushed her hair out after drying it with the blow-dryer she'd managed to bring along with her. At the start of her travels, she'd quickly realized she got a lot done without dripping hair.

Shaking her head, the woman turned down the thermostat again and headed out into the dining room. She was greeted with the smell of bacon, eggs, and toast.* Stanley, in the same tank top he'd wore last night, came out of the kitchen with an oven mitt carrying a frying pan.

"Mornin'. Eat up, toots, the kids wanna hang out with ya today." He said, dumping the contents of the frying pan onto a plate. It was a pile of mini pancakes.

"Good morning, Stanley. Thank you for the food." (Y/n) grinned up at him before starting to fill her plate.

"Yep. Thank the twins, too, they helped." He said before turning back into the kitchen. Soon, he came out again, the oven mitt and frying pan out of sight. The man grabbed a full plate of food and topped off his breakfast with a couple of pancakes and more bacon strips than necessary before pointing at two plates opposite of his. "Take that down to Sixer and the old man for me when you're done, will ya? Normally the kids do it, but I can't find them."

"Sure thing. Thanks again." The woman nodded after swallowing a mouthful of eggs. Stanley then left with his plate, making a comment about some Cash Wheel rerun he never got to watch.

(Y/n) finished her breakfast after around minutes and set to clearing the table, taking her time with the leftovers and the dishes. Knowing Ford and Fidds, the two were probably out cold atop some notes or blueprints on their desks.

"Has she gone down yet?" Mabel asked to her grunkle and brother in the TV room, glancing out at the empty staircase that led down to the basement.

"Maybe if you actually paid attention, you'd know." Dipper rolled his eyes at his twin, who scoffed.

"Geez, you're earlier than Grunkle Stan's scrambled eggs." She muttered to herself.

"What? No, anyway, she's still in the kitchen." Dipper replied with a sigh.

"Curse her motherly care for cleanliness!" Mabel hissed, crossing her arms. Stan ignored the two, only coughing a bit before shoving another forkful of pancake into his mouth, completely focused on the television.

Back in the kitchen, (Y/n) took a now warm plate of breakfast out of the microwave, closing the door of it before taking the second warm plate into her hands after tucking two napkins wrapped around utensils under her elbows. She went into the main room, looking around a little before descending the staircase, assuming it would take her to the lab.

"And she's off!" Mabel grinned, holding a thumbs-up to Dipper, who returned the gestures as the woman disappeared from their sight.

"Did either of you kids tell her the passcode?" Stan interrupted, wiping his hand on his shirt before changing the channel. The twins froze, smiles dropping as the old man just sighed and shook his head.

She hummed a tune as she found herself at a steel door of sorts. She knocked with her elbows at first, but when no one answered, she shrugged and eyed the keypad on the side of the door.

A few moments passed.

Without further hesitation, the woman typed in "5160**." The keypad beeped twice, a small, green LED light blinking along with the beeps. (Y/n) grinned and shook her head.

"Oh, Stanford." She sighed, using a foot to wedge the door open carefully. She slipped through, letting it close behind her. The woman hummed as she looked around, eyeing the wobbling needles in gauges and the hissing pipes that ran along the cement walls of the basement.

Soon, she reached a small lab at the end of the short hallway. There were different types of machines and blueprints scattered about. Some she recognized, but others she wasn't familiar with in the slightest. The woman decided not to touch anything and instead turned a corner, where she heard soft snores.

Fiddleford was curled up on a large wooden desk, drool dripping from the corner of his open mouth. Snores tumbled out of him, and he shifted slightly and mumbled something under his breath as (Y/n) approached him. She silently set the plate with more bacon down next to him as well as a bundle of utensils and stepped away.

She turned to the second large desk in the room, where Ford had his head in his arms on the desk. She watched his shoulders rise and fall with every breath he took. The woman walked over to him, setting the other plate and utensils in front of him. She carefully took his fogged glasses off of his face, wiping them down with her shirt and folding them before gently placing them beside his arm.

With a grin, the woman quickly pecked Ford's cheek and quietly walked out. Once she was out of the room, the man's right eye peeked open. When he confirmed her absence, he sat up and felt the cheek she had kissed. It was very warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This is what most Americans eat for breakfast, right? Yeah, I think so. My family usually eats rice with bacon and eggs rather than toast, but I mean, sure
> 
> **Whoever comments the origin of this code first gets to request a guaranteed oneshot of the following fandoms: Gravity Falls, Rick and Morty, Undertale, Steven Universe, and Five Nights at Freddy's.  
> Hint: Date
> 
> \----
> 
> Okay. So I'm really pissed and sad and fucked up right now. I spent weeks on this single chapter. It took me fucking weeks. I copy and paste it multiple times. It's not quite done, but I want to get it out ASAP because of how long you guys have waited.
> 
> My web browser keeps closing because apparently, Rich Text is too much for my Kindle to handle. 'This is fine,' I think. 'I have the whole thing copied.'
> 
> I select the outdated text. I click "paste."
> 
> MOST OF THIS FUCKING CHAPTER IS GONE.
> 
> I DONT KNOW HOW, I DONT KNOW WHY, BUT I DO KNOW THAT I AM ON MY PERIOD AND I AM ANGRY. NO, IM FUCKING FURIOUS. IVE BEEN IN A BAD MOOD OVER THIS ONE ASSHOLE FOR A FUCKING MONTH. I FINALLY HAVE A DECENT CHAPTER WRITTEN OUT. IM EXCITED. I TRY TO ADD LITERALLY 10 WORDS TO ONE SENTENCE AND ITS GONE. ITS ALL GONE.
> 
> I'm so fucking sorry, guys, I really am. I had such a big thing ready. I would've gotten it out sooner, but my mom started taking away our electronics on school days a while ago and I fell so far behind on this. My kindle is super glitchy and stupid, I'm so sorry. Ill try to write whatever I can really soon. For some reason, this shitty thing is all the site saved for me. I'm so sorry, oh my god.
> 
> Right after this is posted, I'll get to work right away. Again, I'm super sorry for the wait and disappointment.


	6. Step Two

(Y/n) stepped out of the lab, turning to shut the steel door after she exited. A cleared throat from behind her made the woman turn around to meet two smug faces of a certain pair of teen twins. A few silent moments passed.

"Soooo?" Mabel drew out, her impossibly wide grin somehow growing even wider. The older female's eyes darted around, as if looking for an answer as to why she felt cornered. Another silence.

"There was a camera in there that McGucket installed when he first built the lab. He used to to check on his projects from upstairs. It was deactivated for a while, but we had Soos replace the batteries in it this morning and hook it up to the television. We all saw you." Dipper explained, crossing his arms with a slight smirk.

The two teens seemed to take great pleasure in seeing their older friend's face flush a deep pink as mortifying realization slowly sunk in. They let (Y/n) consider her words solid fifteen seconds.

"... Oh." She barely managed to squeak out.

"Hey Mabel, Dipper! You coming back or what?!" A gruff, unfamiliar voice sounded from above the three. Mabel squealed, taking the flustered woman's hand and practically dragging her up half a flight of stairs before she gained the sense to cooperate. Dipper rushed to keep up behind them.

When they reached the living room again, they were met with a group of people unfamiliar to (Y/n). Two teen girls who seemed to be twins' age stood next to each other with friendly smiles. One was Asian, with long, black hair and large glasses. The other was plus-sized, with brunette hair up in a ponytail. A redheaded young woman in green flannel stood behind them. Her hair was long and spilled out from a wool hat atop her head. A knowing smirk donned her lips.

"(Y/n)! These are our friends, Candy, Grenda, and Wendy!" Mabel introduced, pointing to each female as she said their names.

"Hello!" Candy said with a small wave. The woman waved back. Before she could say anything, the same voice from before shouted "HUGS" before Grenda rushed forward to hug the traveler, lifting her up off the ground. (Y/n) let out a choked chuckle before the girl put her down.

"'Sup, future Mrs. Pines." Wendy casually greeted, raising a hand in a lazy but heartfelt wave. The older woman smiled back, patting Grenda's head.

"Hello. It's very nice to meet you girls. Wait, uh, what did you call me?"

"(Y/n)! Haha, uh, now that you've met the girls, we'll need you to change clothes." Dipper cut in, laughing nervously. The woman didn't bother asking about Wendy's new nickname for her, as she couldn't really hear what she said anyways. Instead, she raised a brow and looked down at the baggy t-shirt and sweatpants she'd carelessly thrown on earlier.

"Anything in particular I should be getting ready for?" The traveler asked, looking back to the teenage boy in front of her, who gestured for her to follow him.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. We're just heading out to shop for a bit. Mabel thought it'd be a good way for you to get to know her and her friends. Y'know. Girl time. Of course, I'll be coming along, too, but I'll mostly be reading a book and guarding their stuff." Dipper explained, leading the woman up the stairs. (Y/n) hummed.

"Sounds fun. Definitely beats staying here in the manor all day." The woman shrugged. The boy looked up at her weirdly.

"You were planning to stay in for the whole day? Never pegged you as the inside type." He commented. The woman laughed.

"Yeah, nobody really does. I do go out during the day, don't get me wrong, but most of the time I'm reviewing notes or preparing to head out for the night. I like to wander around in the darkness, get a better feel for a place before I let daytime guide me." She says. Dipper frowned and warned her.

"Well, I definitely don't recommend going out after dark in Gravity Falls. Especially not near the woods. It's really dangerous when all the nocturnal creatures are up and awake. Trust me." He looks up at her seriously, but she doesn't seem to notice. In fact, she seemed even more excited.

"Really? Oh, this is wonderful! Now I'm even more delighted to be here! I think Stanford mentioned his old lab--er, the Mystery Shack was surrounded by forests?" The lady squealed, clapping her hands together. Good job, Dipstick, you've put her in more danger than she needed to be in.

"Right. Just don't tell Grunkle Ford I told you this. Let one of us know if you're going out after dark, as well. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stop you if you decide to explore now, but at least stay safe." The teen sighed, stopping in front of (Y/n)'s bedroom door. She laughed.

"It's okay, I won't tell. Thank you for watching out for me, bud." The woman grinned, patting Dipper's hat a few times. He nodded and let go of her.

"No problem. Now go change. Not sure if you've been told, but we're all going shopping until lunch, so dress comfy and casual. We'll be walking around a lot today."

"What did you think I did overseas, went exploring in ball gowns? No worries, I'll wear something appropriate for today. Meet ya downstairs?" The woman asked, waiting for Dipper to nod before smiling at him once more and disappearing into her room.

Downstairs, Stanford came up to the main floor with two dirty plates and some used utensils. His brother caught sight of him from the TV room, quickly standing with a groan and collecting his own dirty dishes as an excuse to follow his twin into the kitchen.

"Heya, Sixer. How's it goin'?" He greeted nonchalantly, putting his plate and utensils into the sink as Ford started washing their dishes. The genius merely paid his brother a side glance before rolling his eyes with a sigh.

"Alright, what do you want?" He asked, carefully setting a now clean plate onto the dish rack beside the sink. Stan whistled and put his hands up in a surrendering motion.

"Jeez, why so assuming, huh? I don't want anything from ya." He claimed as he leaned back onto one of the marble counters. Ford just groaned in obvious doubt.

"Yes, you do. I can hear it." The genius said matter-of-factly. His brother raised an eyebrow.

"Hear what? My total innocence? If so, then yeah, I hear it too."

"It's in your tone, Stanley. It's the tone you use before you're about to ask for something. A favor, some cash." Ford said, rinsing off another plate and tapping some water off before placing it in the dish rack. "Well? What'll it be? Come on, then, I don't have all day."

Stan rolled his eyes this time.

"Okay, fine, you got me. This time it's just a small favor, though." He defended. Ford narrowed his eyes at him.

"... I highly doubt it, but alright." He said in a suspicious tone.

"'Okay. Sounds like a lie, but okay.'" Stan mocked to himself quietly.

"Excuse me?" The genius asked.

"Nothin'." His brother coughed, reaching up to adjust his beanie. "But, uh, I just want you to take a break today."

"A break?" Ford raised a brow, washing his hands after he'd washed the rest of the dishes.

"Yeah. Y'know, go outside for a bit, enjoy the town for once. You're kind of work-addicted, so me and the kids thought you shout treat yourself a little. Nothin' big." Stan shrugged, standing up straight as Ford dried his hands with a rag hanging on the oven handle.

"'The kids and I.' Also, no." The six-fingered man immediately rejected, thinking about all the work he hadn't been able to do since Mabel took his out the day before. Not that he wasn't grateful for it, since he reunited with (Y/n), but still. "I'm a busy man."

Stan coughed at that. Ford turned around to give him a glare.

"I'm serious, Stanley. Fiddleford has just come up with a new invention to help us process all the data we've collected thus far. It's very important to our research, so we have to get this done as quick as possible, or-"

"Blah, blah, blah. Look, what's one more day, Poindexter? I'll even drive ya." Stanley offered, moving in front of his brother and placing a hand on his shoulder to keep him from running off to the lab the first chance he got. Ford didn't realize the reason behind this, only shrugging off his brother's hand to take a step back.

"Are you even listening to me?! Absolutely not! Look, I appreciate your concern, but yesterday was a good enough time off. Tell Mabel and Dipper I had fun spending time with them and that I'm thankful Mabel caused me to meet (Y/n) again. I'll be in the lab." The genius said, brushing past his brother and to the door.

"Hey, Sixer, c'mon! You haven't spent half a week outside since we came back! Don't 'cha think this'll be good for you?" When Ford just ignored him, Stan began to panic and tried a different approach as Ford swung the kitchen door open. "Wouldn't (Y/n) be worried, knowin' you haven't gotten much sunlight in a while?"

"She won't know. In fact, she's probably back in her room, researching Gravity Falls. I know her, she wouldn't go out in the day so soon after arriving at a new destination unless someone gave her a reason-" Stanford stopped so suddenly, his twin nearly bumped into him. "-to."

(Y/n) skipped down the stairs with a small smile on her face. She wore a long-sleeved blouse with the sleeves rolled up to the middle of her forearms and capri pants. Light brown sandals hung from her fingers, the woman setting them down and stepping into them once she reached the bottom of the stairs. A small satchel bumped lightly against her waist as she walked over to the group of young ones near the main entrance of the mansion.

"(Y/n)!" Mabel and her two friends squealed, rushing to greet her again. Dipper and Wendy just waited as the girls led the traveler back to them, pointing out small details on her outfit most people wouldn't bother to notice.

"Someone's ready for a day out." Wendy mused, looking the woman up and down. "Nice choice."

"Is it? Thank you! I haven't gone shopping for a while, so I was afraid these clothes would be kind of dated." She grinned, looking down at herself. The girls laughed, assuring her that she looked casual, yet fashionable.

"I highly doubt that, but if you think so, then sure!" She exclaimed happily. Stanley snickered behind his twin and nudged the blushing man's shoulder at the similar word choice. The word choice of these seniors was too much.

"Oh, you haven't met Soos yet! He just came from the Shack!" Mabel jumped, taking a hand of the woman and leading her forward to the awkward man standing off to the side.

"Hello!" The woman greeted the man, who stood up straighter and held out a stiff hands. The woman took it, deciding to stay silent about the sweat gathering on his palm. Soos looked very stressed, as if he needed to keep a secret so badly but very much wanted to shout it out. Either that or he just doesn't hold secrets often.

"Hi, ladydude. Er, dudelady. Client number one. Nice to meet you. I am Soos." He said not-so-casually as he shook her hand for an almost uncomfortable amount of time. (Y/n) just smiled politely, although she glanced around in slight anxiousness. Mabel looked over at Dipper, who had come to stand on the other side of (Y/n).

"Sorry, did you just call me 'Client'?"

Uh oh.

"Ehehe! No, no, I didn't. What if I did? I totally did not. No worries, it's fine, nothing's weird. It's not like this whole day was planned out late at night and everyone's in on it or anything, ha! I'm not being sketchy, you're being sketchy!"

"RIGHT. RIGHT. OKAY. Okay. Um, Soos, can we talk to you for a minute?" Dipper quickly intervened, waving his hand to Candy and Grenda, who subtly nodded to each other and went on either side of (Y/n), leading her outside and starting a conversation about her outfit.

Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy stayed behind to scold Soos for "losing his cool." The ashamed man tried to explain himself through apologies and panicked sentences. Stanley sighed in relief and wiped some sweat from his brow, grateful for the effect timing that had just taken place. He didn't realize his brother had gone, freaking out and looking around once he had.

His tense form immediately slumped once he saw Ford rushing up the stairs to his room rather than down them to the basement. The six-fingered man stumbled twice on the same flight of steps, face flushed pink. He mumbled something Stan barely even heard before disappearing into the hallway of rooms.

"You're driving me to the shopping center once I'm ready to go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is just another part of the huge chapter that I lost. I'm super paranoid of losing everything again, so I've decided I'm going to update the chapter in parts. Sorry for the inconvenience! Thanks so much for reading, next part's coming up soon!


	7. Step Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've gotten into codes recently.

The short walk to the Gravity Falls mall was very enjoyable. The group asked (Y/n) many questions about her travels and experiences. Mabel, Candy, and Grenda were excited to hear about cute guys and clothes. Wendy found it amusing to listen to stories of the older woman telling people off for being overly obnoxious. Dipper enjoyed learning about different mythological creatures in different areas and which ones weren't so mythological.

Eventually, they'd made it to the shopping center. The teen girls immediately rushed off into a clothing store with Wendy at their heels, making sure they didn't bother anyone or get themselves kicked out. Dipper and (Y/n) talked a bit more, the young boy pulling a paperback book from his vest and sitting down at a nearby bench before his sister showed up to drag the woman into a store.

The next twenty minutes were spent with a lot of energy and repetition. The three youngest girls would go into a store, force each other and the older women into dressing rooms, make a few comments, and leave a few outfits later in hopes of finding even better clothes.

Wendy and (Y/n) were spending time together as if they were old friends looking after the teens. The women would often point out ridiculous items of clothing in each store and try them on so they could laugh at themselves. They made sure to keep and eye on the girls, too, just in case they got a bit reckless. Luckily, they were well-behaved; aside from the occasional squeal that would pierce the eardrums of customers and employees alike.

When (Y/n)'s phone buzzed in her pocket, she hung the bright orange t-shirt with large, solid-colored clipart axes all over it back on its rack before taking the device out and unlocking it with the pin number 1916*. Her new notification was a text message from an unknown number.

The woman was a bit suspicious when she saw that she'd been sent a photo, but opened the file out of curiosity. She was relieved when Stanley's upper face came into view, as it was in the foreground. Even then, it was blurred, as it wasn't the main part of the picture. From the opposite bottom corner of the screen, Stan's blurred index finger pointed at his twin.

Who was dripping wet.

With a damp towel around his waist.

When he'd told her that he'd stuck to a diet and training regimen for the past thirty-two years, she'd been skeptical. She couldn't imagine that dorky, awkward, nerd in college working out or refraining from consuming coffee and candy bars for days at a time before being scolded about his health.

"Seeing is believing." She remembered saying to him once, after catching him in his dorm after pulling an all-nighter. "And from what I'm seeing right now, I believe you've been living off of jellybeans for the past two days rather than those salads you told me you purchased."

"I can explain--" He'd started sleepily before yawning and stretching out, either ignoring or not noticing the few jellybeans that fell out of the folds of his shirt and clattered to the cheap tile floor.

Now that she saw him in this photo, though, she definitely believed the man.

"How..." (Y/n) whispered to herself, her gaze shamelessly roaming over the muscles of his back and arms. As the camera was focused on Ford, it managed to capture some drops of water running down his toned upper body.

The woman's eyes trailed downwards to where Stanley seemed to be pointing at a specific spot.

The wet man's towel was dampened enough so that the extra weight allowed it to drape over and define everything it touched. In this case, it was Stanford Pines' glorious ass.

(Y/n) stared at this image for much longer than she'd willingly admit.

"Hey, what'cha lookin' at there, pal?"

The woman yelped, jumping up from surprise and nearly dripping her phone in the process. She managed to hit the home button and click the device off before anyone could see what she was looking at so intensely. In the now dark screen was a reflection of an amused, yet concerned Wendy.

"Oh, geez. You okay there? I'm not gonna cause a heart attack, am I?" The redhead chuckled, though her furrowed brow was enough to show her genuine worry. The traveler laughed as she slid her phone back into her shorts pocket.

"I'm fine, really. I've had worse, I just... didn't realize I'd be having to experience a jumpscare this early in a new area." She waved off with a reassuring smile, a hand over her racing heart in a lousy attempt to get it to calm down.

Wendy still looked a bit cautious, but she nodded, convinced. A silence ensued.

"So uh, what-- Oh my god." The younger woman cut herself off, snorting and clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter. (Y/n) was confused for a short while before remembering the shirt she was looking at. She took it off the rack again and held it in front of Wendy.

"The art on this shirt is super high-quality, isn't it?" She asked in her most serious tone. When Wendy laughed harder, the woman laughed along with her.

Outside the shop, Dipper sat on the bench alone, patiently waiting. Soon, his sister and her two best friends sneakily slid out of the store they were in and rushed their way over.

"Time?" The boy asked Grenda, who checked her watch and said the time aloud.

"Only about five minutes left and counting until step three of Operation 'Senior Citizens Falling for Each Other With No Chance of Getting Up.'" Candy quickly calculated, her large glasses glinting in the light as she adjusted them.

"'Matchmaking.' Operation Matchmaking." Dipper corrected.

"Smoothie. Is she here?" His sister asked, looking around. Dipper got his binoculars out from his vest and lifted them up to his face. He looked in the direction of the food court, scanning the area.

A girl stepped out. She was their age, with neat makeup on and blonde hair that reached down to her mid-back. Her slim fingers wrapped around a clear, plastic cup filled almost all the way with an exotic smoothie. That was stuff no one would want to get on their clothing.

The girl looked around with seemingly bored eyes before taking a sip of her drink through a purple plastic straw. She began making her way in the group's general direction.

"She's coming." Dipper nodded, placing his binoculars back into his vest. Mabel looked at her friends, who already had their phones out.

Wendy's phone buzzed three times. (Y/n) looked at the woman, who took out her device and viewed her notifications. Two texts from Grenda, one from Candy.

"Someone's popular." The older woman mused, hanging an overpriced moss green shirt with torn sleeves back on the rack she found it. The redhead laughed and rolled her eyes jokingly.

"I wish. It's just a group chat I have with my family. Dad's asking whether we need more firewood, which we don't, considering he brought in an extra wheelbarrow of the stuff, like, yesterday." She said, clearing the notifications so the texts weren't visible.

"I heard your father has some nice wood." (Y/n) nodded.

The two women froze.

"Did you just--" Wendy's gaze whipped to an increasingly red (Y/n).

"That came out so wrong." The lady whispered, burying her face in her hands. Only when the redhead started laughing did her embarrassed friend punch her shoulder whit a flustered smile. Soon, the two were laughing so hard, they had to be escorted out of the store.

Wendy glanced to her left as she giggled some more. She spotted a blonde head of hair before turning back to the older woman.

"I-I can't--" She laughed again, breathlessly. "D-Don't tell the-Don't tell the kids!"

"I won't, no worries." Wendy laughed, patting the back of a hunched over (Y/n).

The redhead looked to her left again. The blonde, teenage girl was only a few meters away now. She glanced to the laughing lady before staring up at Wendy, who nodded. The young girl then locked her eyes on (Y/n) as she approached, subtly undoing the lid of her cheap cup.

"Alright, alright, calm down." Wendy chuckled. Her friend gave out a few more laughs before rising with a few giggles. Suddenly, the blonde bumped into the lumberjack's daughter. The lid of the drink easily fell off, allowing a near-full cup of a fruit smoothie to splash forward...

... and right onto (Y/n)'s outfit.

"Hey, watch it!" Wendy shouted, drawing the attention of a few passerby. The blonde girl scoffed, not at all looking remorseful for covering a stranger in her drink.

"Me? What are you doing just standing out in everyone's way for no reason?" She retorted, crossing her arms with a scowl on her glossed lips.

"Hey, what's going on?" Mabel rushed over to the commotion, her brother and friends close behind. Before anyone could pin the blame on each other, (Y/n) stepped with a calm smile.

"Nothing is going on. Just an accident, it's fine." She assured. Dipper raised a brow and crossed his arms.

"Pacifica? Why are you here?" He asked almost accusingly. The girl frowned and flicked some hair over her shoulder.

"What do you think I'm doing at a mall? I'm shopping, obviously. And you call yourself smart." She sassed. The twins frowned. Candy and Grenda gasped.

"(Y/n), your shirt!" They exclaimed, moving forward to examine the damage. The woman just laughed.

"Oh, this old thing? It's fine, I told you guys I got it for real cheap, no harm done. The whole reason for shopping is to buy new clothes, isn't it? Why don't I get cleaned up and changed and we can all talk when we've calmed down, alright?" She asked, although her tone suggested there was no room for argument. She sounded like a mother telling her kids to calm down and be nice after blaming each other for knocking over a cheap vase or something.

Everyone else was taken aback. Frankly, they were surprised at how chill she was about the situation. The woman seemed as if she'd gone through this before, which she probably has, considering all the places she's gone and the people she's met.

"Now, girls, why don't we all just head to the restroom to get this smoothie off of me? Pacifica, you did nothing wrong, alright?" She said kindly to the seeing blonde. It was obvious she was the most surprised out of all of them. When the girl nodded, (Y/n) grinned and started walking. "Come along, children."

The group of friends followed after her, Grenda and Candy rushing into the restroom before anyone else to make sure they had a stall to save for (Y/n). Most of the girls entered, leaving Pacifica and Dipper to seat themselves on either edge of the nearest bench. Awkward silence ensued.

Meanwhile, two gross old men enjoyed a peaceful car ride just a few minutes away.

When the Stanley Mobile dipped into another pothole in the unruly road of Gravity Falls, Stanford grumbled and rubbed his head where he'd hit it on the roof for the fourth time upon entering the vehicle. His brother just laughed at him in the rearview mirror, not at all affected by the bumps in the road.

Stanley had agreed to drive his twin to the mall when he was ready. When Ford saw the passenger's seat, he immediately shut the car door and sat in the back, disgusted by the yellow stain in the leather seat. He didn't even want to know where that had come from. The pig could sit there if it wanted to.

And it did. It wasn't until Ford was buckled up and the car pulled out of the driveway that Stan admitted to him the detour they'd be taking. He needed to head down to the Mystery Shack to help Soos with the morning rush, as Melody had worked every day for the past week and deserved a break.

When they'd arrived, Stan led Waddles into the Shack (as they had yet to trust him with McGucket, who occasionally eyed the animal and made Mabel nervous and protective) as a grumpy Ford trailed behind. Despite his brother's requests to pretend they were one teleporting person for an attraction, the genius went down to his lab to collect blueprints for machines they had yet to build in the mansion. It never hurt to have multiple of everything to rely on.

Not soon enough, the two brothers were off again. Stanford was starting to get a headache; whether it was from the annoyance or Stan's driving, he wasn't quite sure. Who knows, it might have been both.

The man sighed in aggravation, bringing up a six-fingered hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. After a few moments, be brought it back down to the seat.

Oh god.

He didn't have the strength to look down at what he was touching. Whatever it was, it was slimy and sticky and absolutely revolting.

He wiped his hand behind him, on the small, rough space between the tops of the seats and the back window before searching his trench coat with his clean hand to pull out a small bottle of hand sanitizer.

'Please let that be a toffee peanut, please let that be a toffee peanut, please let that be a toffee peanut--'

While Ford had an internal panic attack in the backseat, Stanley hummed a cheerful little tune as he drove.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Guess where this code comes from and you get the prize I mentioned in chapter 5 ;))  
> Hint: A1Z26


	8. Step Four

"I can't believe he said that!" Mabel giggled as the rest of the girls laughed. (Y/n) chuckled, patting her left arm down before hopping up onto the toilet seat of the mall's restroom. 

"I know, right? Then--and you'll love this one--then he goes: "this darn rabbit has no idea where he's going!" She mimics Ford's voice as best she can, deepening her voice dramatically. Everyone laughs again, harder this time, as the woman peers over the stall and tosses her damp paper towel into the corner.

Candy and Grenda tilted the trashcan slightly (with clean paper towels beneath their hands, obviously) and cheer when the trash makes it into the bin. (Y/n) grins in accomplishment and carefully move back down to the tile floor avoid slipping and falling into the public toilet.

Wendy wrings out the damp part of (Y/n)'s stained blouse where she'd had to wash it as best she could in the restroom sink. She and the girls offered to get her a new shirt to change into, but the woman had kindly denied and explained that she'd gone through more embarrassing things in public.

While they were on the topic of embarrassing things, the older woman had been requested by Mabel to tell funny stories about her great uncle in college.

"Really, you'd think such a nerd would be able to tie his own tie." Wendy snickered, looking over the damp piece of clothing and nodding to herself after a few moments of observing the faint pink stain. Good enough. She hung it over the stall door as straight as she could while Mabel spoke up.

"Did you tie it for him, (Y/n)?" The teen girl asked curiously, raising her eyebrows a few times in a suggestive manner even though the woman smoothing out the wrinkles in her shirt couldn't see.

"Hmm? Oh, of course I did!" She admitted, almost sighing in nostalgia. "The problem was that he would tie it halfway, then mess up and winged it the rest of the way through. Eventually, whenever he'd have to wear a tie, we'd meet somewhere and I'd do it for him. The guy's a genius and he tried to stick to bowties for most of college rather than learn how to fix himself up properly. Dork."

Wendy grinned at the younger girls in the mirror. Their snickering at the affection in (Y/n)'s voice went unnoticed as the woman thought back to those days while slipping on her washed and dried undershirt.

\----

_"Dummy." She shook her head with a grin as she undid Ford's horrid attempt of a proper knot. "Y'know, me or Fidds could actually teach you to do this on your own rather than you dragging me out in the middle of presentations."_

_"It's easier this way." The male said simply, not having any good arguments against the girl. Yeah, mildly interrupting a classmate's slideshow to quietly make their way into the empty hallway was kind of inconvenient, but he didn't want to keep trying and failing to do something as simple as this in front of so many others._

_"Mhmm." (Y/n) hummed sarcastically, not bothering to continue the conversation they'd had a million times already. After quickly tying the piece of cloth in one go, the girl finished, straightening it out a bit more and patting it against Ford's chest. The male held back a frown when the warmth of his crush's hands left him, instead clearing his throat and looking up at her, some embarrassment in his expression._

_"How do I look?" He asked, standing straight as the woman took a step back. Heat rushed to his face as she looked at him from head to toe before meeting his eyes with an adoring expression. She grinned at him and held up both of her hands to give the male two thumbs-up._

_"Lookin' snazzy there, pal. That representative is sure to swoon." She complimented. Ford chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck with a hand, his blush increasing in color._

_"T-Thanks." He stuttered awkwardly, ignoring the sting he felt in his chest when she'd called him "pal."_

_"No problem." (Y/n) giggled. She gestured to the classroom door. "Now go get em', tiger."_

\----

The woman sighed again and took her blouse from the stall door. She slipped it on, but didn't bother buttoning it up so the stain was less noticeable, despite the younger redhead being able to scrub most of the color out.

The group of females soon ventured out into the hall, chatting and laughing at random points in the conversation. As (Y/n) laughed at something Grenda said, she felt her arm being tapped. The lady turned to see a bashful Pacifica.

Wendy noticed the woman stopping and raised a brow at her before looking down and noticing the teenager. For a moment, a knowing look crossed her face, but she quickly slapped on a small, supportive smile that said "no worries, I'll cover for you," before turning back around to catch up with everyone else.

Before the woman could ask what the problem was, the young blonde spoke.

"Um... I wanted to apologize. For spilling my smoothie all over you. And then being a brat about it." She spoke hesitantly. She fidgeted when (Y/n) stared down at her for a few moments, processing the information. After what felt like hours, the woman let out a kind laugh.

"No need to apologize! Really, it's fine--the drink didn't get to soak in for long, so it was pretty easy to clean off. See?" She asked, gesturing to her shirt. You wouldn't know there was a stain unless you were looking. "Totally gone. You're fine, Pacifica."

"... Uh, but still. Let me make it up to you." The blonde said after a moment of awe. This lady was too kind to someone who made such a terrible first impression. "How about I take you dress shopping? Then I can treat everyone to dinner."

"Wha--huh?" The older female asked dumbly. "But--"

"It's fine, no need to argue. I'm a Northwest, this will be pocket money for me." The teen half-bragged, waving a hand dismissively. At her last name, (Y/n)'s concerned expression went away for the most part.

"Oh. Even then, are you sure it's okay? Like, you won't get in trouble with your parents or anything?" She asked. Pacifica shook her head.

"Nah. They've been letting me get away with a lot more since... uh, since Mabel and Dipper's thirteenth birthday." The teen kept a calm exterior, but was inwardly freaking out about her near slip-up. Luckily, the older woman didn't seem to notice and instead took a moment to think to herself.

Pacifica sounded very persistent. It would be useless to argue any more, so...

"Well... okay. Just don't go overboard, alright? Just as long as you don't buy me more than I need, we should be good." (Y/n) said, holding a hand out. The teen nodded, pretending not to notice the hand, before leading the older woman away.

Meanwhile, Stanford had his arms crossed again in the backseat of El Diablo, a deep frown on his face. He didn't even flinch when the car drove over a pothole, making him bounce up and hit his head on the ceiling. His twin didn't falter in his singing, an improvised song about driving to the mall.

"Drivin' to the mall, in my car, with my bro! We're drivin', drivin' to the maall!"

"Stanley, please."

"Haha, nope!"

Ford groaned as his twin kept singing obnoxiously. Honestly, he just wanted to get to the shopping center, find (Y/n), convince Stan to stay with the kids, run off with his crush, take her on a date, confess his feelings, hear her confess back, kiss, cuddle, get married--

Geez, he had it bad. This idiotic genius was so enamored with this woman for too many reasons. She was nice to him, appreciated him, accepted him, helped him, helped Fiddleford, never forgot who he was.

He realized just how desperate he was to make her like him back.

The man couldn't really do anything, though. Women were and always would be a mystery to him. Ford sighed and uncrossed his arms, allowing himself to slump back into the leather seat of the car. The rough seatbelt rubbed uncomfortably again the bottom of his jaw, but he ignored the feeling.

Stanley noticed his twin's silent distress and faltered in his singing. He quickly started again though, knowing his brother wouldn't want to share whatever angsty love stuff was going down in that huge head of his. Stan didn't want to make him more uncomfortable than he already seemed to be.

He almost felt bad. Here he was, working to force his own sibling into this overly-complex plan two teenagers came up with overnight. It was a good plan, very well-organized and thought-out, but the man still managed to feel that tiny bit of guilt tugging at his once non-existent heart strings. He knew what it was like to be separated from the person you love and couldn't imagine how that must feel when romantic feelings were involved.

When the twins asked for their friends to come over so early in the morning, he thought they were a bit too enthusiastic about getting out of the house after a long while away from Gravity Falls. Then everyone else arrived soon after (all of them eating their own breakfast, thank God) and relayed the plan to him. The only thing Stan was concerned about at the time was the lack of sleep everyone had, but that quickly went away after witnessing their excitement.

Now, though, the man wasn't so willing to go along with this. He didn't want to drop out or anything, but he started to feel kind of uncomfortable playing such a large role.

The plan had multiple steps, safety procedures, preparations, and roles. Everyone had a part to play.

(Y/n) was Client number one and Stanford was Client number two. These two were the main objective; this whole thing was set up to get the pair together.

Stanley was the "distraction driver," according to Mabel. He was in charge of keeping Ford away from the mall. Stan was on his own, but he played a major role in the group.

Wendy was the "quick BFF." The redhead was doing a spectacular job at being (Y/n)'s best friend for the day, keeping her in a good mood and making her feel more like a woman having a shopping day than a babysitter in charge of a few rowdy teenagers.

Candy and Grenda were the "girls behind the scenes but not really because they're always in sight," or as Dipper called them, "the timekeepers." These two kept notes about the plan, reminded everyone of the steps and time to do them, as well as the places of everyone involved. They took great pride in their job, which was basically to keep everything running smoothly.

Pacifica had one of the most important roles. She was to create a scene involving a mess on (Y/n)'s clothes so she could "apologize" and commence preparations for Step Five. She was known as the "prep fairy," which she objected at first, but soon went along with, as Mabel was very stubborn at three in the morning.

Dipper and Mabel were the masterminds behind the project. The twins called everyone up really late into the evening until too early in the morning. Dipper was in charge of making a step-by-step diagram (illustrations and nicknames done by Mabel) while Mabel helped to inform everyone over the phone.

Her brother had to cut in a few times, saying things like "no, Mabel, two pounds of glitter isn't allowed in the mall," or "Pacifica, no one cares if you're missing out on 'beauty sleep'--" "--because you don't need it! Pow! See, that's how you flirt--" "Mabel, go take a nap," and "for the last time, I refuse to let us get kicked out _again_ because of twenty-eight glitter bombs."

... It was a stressful night.

Stan noticed his brother perk up in the back seat when he drove into the mall. Once he found a parking spot a good distance from the building, he checked his phone to go over what he had to do for the third time today. Mabel and Dipper spent a lot of time on this plan and he didn't want to be the screw-up.

_Go to the mall and park far away so Ford doesn't run in like a maniac._

He looked in the rearview mirror. The six-fingered man muttered curse words to himself as he struggled with the seatbelt buckle. Good thing he sat in that seat. Stan looked back to his phone.

_Pretend to get a text and lie about step 3 to Ford. Convince him to get pie w/ you._

The man nodded to himself, putting his phone away for now. The words played on a loop in his head.

"Hey, bro, looks like-- What the hell?" Stanley had turned around to look at his brother. This wouldn't have been confusing if his brother was still in his seat.

Which he wasn't.

The seatbelt was still retracting into the side of the car and the back door was wide open. Stan cursed, undoing his own seatbelt with ease, yanking the keys from the ignition, and hopping out of his car. He quickly shut the two doors and rushed over to his twin, who was a few yards away, walking with a quick pace.

"Hey, Sixer," Stan out a hand on his brother's shoulder, jumping in front of him when he didn't stop. His placed his other hand on Ford. "Got a text from the kids. Your girlfriend's kind of a mess and they don't want you to see her just yet."

Confusion was on the genius' face. It soon turned to panic.

"What happened? Is she okay?" He asked frantically. Stan held in a laugh. Of course he'd be this freaked out.

"She's fine, she's fine. Just got a smoothie spilled on 'er." He held back another chuckle when the man in front of him sighed with obvious relief. When he tried to move again, Stan wouldn't let him. "Hey, hey, calm down."

"Calm down? I am calm, I just want to see her. Stanley, let go of me--"

"Pointdexter, listen. They're cleanin' her up. She doesn't exactly look the nicest right now, and-"

"I don't care, I just want to make sure--"

"Ford. Think about it. (Y/n)'s in there, sticky, gross, and flustered." The last part was a lie, but that's what he was told to do. "Would you want her to see you in that position? It'd be embarrassing!"

"She'd probably be the reason I'd be in that position." Ford mumbled. Stan didn't hear him clearly and raised a brow.

"What? My hearing aid didn't really pick that up."

The genius fought down a ridiculous blush and answered as casually as he could.

"Fine. What do we do in the meantime, though? Wait outside the place like idiots?" He asked. Stanley grinned and turned the man around, catching a group of around seven people leaving the mall. Wendy's green flannel shirt was obvious, and he made sure his twin couldn't see it.

"'Course not. Let's get some pie. How 'bout it?" Ford perked up again.

"Blueberry? From the Diner?"

Stan didn't bother hiding a chuckle this time. His twin looked like a kid asking for his favorite dessert. Honestly, he wasn't far from it.

"Whatever you want, Poindexter."

"So, why are we leaving the mall again?" (Y/n) asked no one in particular, following the kids towards a sleek limousine parked just a small distance in front of them. A few tourists snapped pictures as they walked pass.

Pacifica sighed in what seemed like disappointment. Mabel shook her head and clicked her tongue.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, (Y/n)." The brunette said in a tone of a scolding parent. "We can't buy good dresses at the mall."

"Dresses? I thought we were just buying clothes?" The woman asked in confusion. The group stopped in front of the limo.

"Dresses do count as clothes, you know. We're going to the tailors to get you for for a dress." Pacifica informed as a man stepped out to hold the door open for them. Candy and Grenda went inside, followed by Mabel and Pacifica. Dipper went in next, gesturing for (Y/n) to follow him. She did, and Wendy went in last.

"Um--"

"You didn't think I was going to get you guys take-out and then leave, did you?" The blonde teen continued.

"No, your family has far more class than that. I just wasn't expecting this. Like I said earlier, you don't need to go overboard just for a smoothie, Pacifica." (Y/n) said, looking around the interior of the vehicle.

Pacifica just hummed as the man outside closed the door. Grenda offered everyone drinks as the limo started moving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a while. I'm gonna try to get another chapter up by tomorrow for Halloween, guys! Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> This is so bad and I gave up while writing it and decided to make it into an actual story? Should I continue? This chapter is a mess tbh, more of Reader in the possible next chapter I guess! Thanks for reading!


End file.
